Despite a slight drop in the nation’s unemployment rate, the construction industry ended 2010 with a jobless rate of 20.7 percent, according to the Jan. 7 report by the U.S. Labor Department. The construction industry lost 16,000 jobs last month, and 93,000 jobs, or 1.6 percent, compared to December 2009. While the unemployment rate was up from 18.8 percent last November, it is down from 22.7 percent in December 2009. The average annual unemployment rate for the construction industry in 2010 was 20.6 percent. That compared to 19.0 percent in 2009 and 10.6 percent in 2008. |