Though hiring has certainly slowed over the summer months, the construction industry continued to add new workers rather than lose them in August.
Construction added 3,000 new workers during the month and now employs 6.388 million Americans, according to preliminary data from the Labor Department.
The new data also revised upward the employment figure for July from the previously reported 6.383 million, to 6.385 million, pushing up that month’s increase from 6,000 to 7,000 jobs.
Unemployment, however, rose during August, now at 6.1 percent from 5.5 percent in July.
The U.S. economy added a total of 173,000 jobs in July while the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent.