Employment by Industry (U.S.): In June 2024, the total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the U.S. was 158.6 million (M) – an increase of 206,000 (+0.1%) month on month (m/m). When compared to June 2023, total employment is up by 1.7% year on year (y/y). Among the employment sectors that we track at Gerdau, we saw the greatest monthly gain in the heavy and civil engineering construction sector with a growth of 0.6% m/m.

The SA service-providing sector gained 187,000 jobs to reach total employment of 136.8M people in June, which is +0.1% m/m and +1.8% y/y.

The SA goods-producing sector employed 21.8M people in June – up 19,000 m/m (+0.09%), and up by 1.1% y/y. The service-providing sector is creating jobs at a faster rate than the goods-producing sector this month.

Figure 1 shows seasonally adjusted manufacturing and construction employment on the same chart from 2014 to present. Construction employment grew at a faster rate than manufacturing employment this month.

The SA manufacturing sector employed 13.0M people in June – decreasing 0.1% m/m, and remaining flat y/y. The two employment categories within manufacturing that we pay the most attention to are 1) motor vehicles & parts, and 2) transportation equipment. This month, there were 1.08M employed in the manufacture of motor vehicles and parts, increasing 0.5% m/m. The transportation equipment field employed 1.86M workers, increasing 0.3% m/m.

The SA construction sector employed a total of 8.2M – up 27,000 m/m, and increasing by 2.9% y/y. Most construction workers are employed constructing buildings. In June, there were 1.9M workers constructing buildings, increasing 0.5% m/m and up 3.7% y/y. Heavy and civil engineering was the next largest construction category, employing 1.15M in June – increasing 0.6% m/m, and up 3.6% y/y.

At Gerdau, we keep an eye on national employment data – especially within manufacturing and construction – since this is where most long product steel is used. In addition, we know that growth in net job creation correlates to increased steel consumption.