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In their latest toolkit for portfolio managers, Goldman Sachs' equity research team published a variety of charts, including an analysis of the construction industry's improving residential contractor employment and employment cost index (wages).
While we've said that's construction's going strong in the recovering economy, Goldman's chart places a good visual and numbers to the trend. Jobs, for example, are up to around 1.7 million, while wages are at 2.4% growth year-over-year. While not even close to the record highs in 2006 and 2007 (2.8 million jobs, 4.4% year-over-year growth), it's still reassuring to see a stable and steady recovery since the 2010's dismal low.
An element of potential concern, however, is the fact that both wages and jobs are beginning to plateau, just as they did before the 2008 crash. We'll have to see if construction can keep going strong and growing even stronger, or if it will fall.
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