Press Release Jobs United States Workers

Look Before It’s Gone: Best Blue Collar Jobs Growth For A While


December 08, 2020

Contact: Karen Conner, 202-281-4159Mail_Outline

Washington DC — Jobs in the blue collar sectors of construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging increased by 107,000 or 0.53 percent, in October, but this job growth “might be the best update we have for a while,” said CEPR data analyst Matt Sedlar in today’s Blue Collar Jobs Tracker.

Overall, construction jobs increased by 72,000 in October, the largest increase since June. Residential housing is driving construction job growth in the South and West.

Manufacturing jobs increased by 33,000 nationwide in October, with the South showing the largest increase by region. 

Mining and logging made a comeback, with jobs increasing nationwide by 2,000 in October. This sector had lost 112,000 jobs over the last 12 months (or -15.24 percent). 

“This is a decent report for construction, but spoiler alert, we already know that things don’t get better in November,” explained Sedlar.

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Blue Collar Jobs Tracker is a project of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) created to take a closer look at the path of job growth in four major blue collar industries: manufacturing, mining, construction, and logging. 

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