New CPWR Report Details COVID-19’s Impact on Construction

The new issue of the Center for Construction Research and Training’s Data Bulletin focuses on COVID-19’s economic impact on the industry from March to June 2020, including job losses, business closures, and medical absences.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the construction industry hard,” reads CPWR’s announcement about the new bulletin. “About 80 percent of small construction businesses experienced either a large or moderate negative impact.”

Here are some of the report’s key findings:

• From March to April 2020, nearly one million construction workers lost their jobs, of whom 55.1 percent were temporarily laid off.
• Absence from work due to personal medical reasons in construction increased 70 percent from March to April 2020.
• About 673,000 Hispanic construction workers lost their jobs in April 2020; the percentage of job loss was higher than that of nonHispanic workers (-19.8 percent vs. -12.7 percent).
• From March to April 2020, construction employment fell 22.5 percent among self-unincorporated workers.
• Small businesses in construction were less likely than those in all
  nonfarm industries to report a large negative effect of COVID-19, but more likely to report moderate negative effects.

The full report is available on CPWR’s website.