1. Construction & Sustainability Jobs in New York City
Construction & Sustainability Industry Commission Meeting  February 15, 2017
Presented by
Good morning. We are so glad to be here with you today for this industry commission meeting.
My name is Ronnie Kauder. I am the Senior Research Director at the New York City Labor Market Information Service, housed at the CUNY Graduate Center. I am joined here today by Yuemeng Zhang of our staff.
At the CUNY Graduate Center
365 5th Avenue, 6202
New York, NY 10016

2. Who We Are & What We Do Housed at the CUNY Graduate Center
Provide labor market intelligence
Help workforce stakeholders, including the NYCDOE, to be aware of the current labor market
End goal: Improve labor market outcomes for students and jobseekers
Learn more:
We work with many organizations that prepare the workforce of the future. We have been working with the NYC Department of Education, especially the Career & Technical Education division, for several years, to bring greater awareness of the labor market so that their students can achieve better outcomes in the labor market.
You can visit our website to learn more about what we do at www.

3. Key New York City Economic Trends
Before we delve into the specifics of Construction industry, we wanted to begin with a basic overview of the labor market in New York City.
In general, New York City’s economy has recovered well from the last downturn.
The City’s job count was approximately 4.1 million in December 2016, a gain of more than 500,000 since the end of the recession in late 2009.
As December 2016, New York City’s official unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, the same as a year earlier. The unemployment rate is somewhat higher in the Bronx (6.2%), lower in Manhattan (3.6%) and Queens (3.9%) , and on par with the citywide average in Brooklyn (4.5%) and Staten Island (4.4%).

4. New York City Economy by Sector, 2015
TRANSPORTATION & WAREHOUSING
This is an illustration of the NYC economy and it shows you the proportion of each sector relative to the size of the overall economy.
As you can see on this graphic, the largest sector in New York City is now health care and social assistance, with almost 650,000 jobs.
Government, which includes public schools as well as federal, state and city offices, is the second largest sector in the NYC, with about half a million jobs..
It is followed by Professional and Technical Services. These include office jobs in accounting, legal services, specialized design services, architecture and engineering, computer systems design, and so on. It has almost 400,000 jobs.
Manufacturing, once very large, now has about 75,000 jobs [point to square in lower right corner]. In fact, food manufacturing has replaced apparel as the largest manufacturing industry in New York City.
Source | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for New York City, New York State Department of Labor, 2015
ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, AND RECREATION
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS
MANUFACTURING
UTILITIES

5. Largest Sectors
This graphic is another representation of what we saw on the last slide. It displays employment in the largest sectors.
After Health care and social assistance, government, and professional and technical services,
The other top sectors are retail trade, accommodation and food services, and finance and insurance.
Source | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for New York City, New York State Department of Labor, 2015

6. Sectors with the Greatest Job Growth
This bar chart shows job growth by sector. The blue bar shows total employment by sector in 2005, with the shaded bar showing growth since between 2005 and This chart is sorted by greatest growth (the size of the shaded bar) to least.
In terms of employment growth over the last 10 years, from 2005 to 2015, Accommodation and Food Services, gained more jobs than any other sector, with 129K new jobs.
Health Care and Social Assistance was next, followed by Professional and Technical Services.
Some sectors, like the one we are focused on here, Construction, lost jobs in the great recession and then gained them back and continued to grow. In Construction had about 110,000 jobs. Construction employment peaked at 131,000 mid way through 2008 and then, during the housing bust and Great Recession, declined by 20,000 jobs or so. It has since rebounded and grown to about 140,000 jobs in As you know, construction is also seasonal, so it is relatively normal to have lower employment in the winter than in the summer.
The New York Building Congress forecasted a total of 147,000 jobs in the five boroughs in They expect employment to fall back to 142,600 jobs in 2017 and 138,100 in 2018, which still exceeds the levels experienced during the previous boom.
Source | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for New York City, New York State Department of Labor, 2005 and 2015

7. Construction & Sustainability Jobs
With that broad overview in mind, we are now ready to look more closely at the area of the economy most relevant to this industry commission.
In New York City

8. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Overview
Establishments primarily engaged in the construction of buildings or engineering projects.
There are about 155K industry jobs in NYC
Employment grew 23%
(+29.4K jobs)
from 2005
This sector includes businesses involved in the construction of buildings or engineering projects, such as highways, bridges, or utility systems.
Altogether, these jobs comprise about 4½% of the entire New York City economy and account for nearly one out of every 23 jobs. It does not include the architects and engineers who work on these projects. Although their jobs are related to construction, they are considered part of professional services, and there is another industry commission, Architecture, Engineering, and Robotics, that focuses on these jobs.
Since 2005, jobs in Construction have grown by 23.5%, somewhat faster than citywide private employment growth during this same period.
What has been driving this growth? [Go to next slide]
Sources | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, New York State Department of Labor; O*NET OnLine, 2017.

9. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Employment Growth, 2005-2015
In New York City, Construction and Sustainability jobs are concentrated within these sectors.
The first category, construction of buildings, had about 40,000 employees in 2015, and increase of 11,000 jobs, or 38% in the ten year period. A big increase. This subsector includes both residential and nonresidential building construction, although the growth has primarily been in residential building construction. This category includes new work, additions, alterations, and maintenance and repair. It includes residential housing contractors and general contractors. This subsector employers a large number of carpenters, construction laborers and construction managers.
The second category is heavy and civil engineering construction. This includes utility system construction, water resources, dams, highways, and the like. The Tappan Zee Bridge, although that’s not in New York City.
The third sector and the one that employs more people than any other in construction in New York City is called Specialty Trade Contractors. This includes electricians and plumbers, as well as some carpenters, construction laborers, painters, HVAC installers, sheet metal workers, cost estimators, brickmasons, roofers, construction equipment operators, cement masons, iron and steel workers and others. This subsector has added 12,000 jobs, or 16%, over the 10-year period.
We’ve included Utilities in this definition also, because the Utilities are very involved in sustainability. As you can see, employment in Utilities has been stable overall over the 10-year period.
We’ll review some of the major economic drivers in a few moments, but for now, let’s take a look at how well this area of the economy performed relative to the entire city during this same period of time.
Source | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, New York State Department of Labor,

10. Outlook for Construction Employment in NYC, 2016-2018*
Residential construction
Non-residential construction
Government
*New York Building Congress
The projections of the New York Building Congress are based on known construction projects. The major drivers of construction employment for are expected to be:
Residential construction, which has had three record-breaking years, 2014 to This pace is continuing, but the question is whether this pace will be sustained once all projects currently in the pipeline have been completed. As we understand it, there is state legislation pending regarding affordable housing construction that could have an impact on this type of residential housing development.
Non-residential construction. According to the New York Building Congress, this is expected to skyrocket from 2016 to This includes spending on hotels, hospitals, colleges and universities, and especially office construction. This is concentrated in Manhattan, with more spending also in Brooklyn and Queens.
3. Government spending is on public works, including investments in mass transit, roads, bridge and other infrastructure. The City of New York is forecast to spend on infrastructure projects, as is the MTA, the Port Authority and other state and federal agencies, such as the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the State Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

11. Construction & Sustainability Jobs in NYC Year-Over-Year Employment Change, 2001-2015
This line graph shows the year over year change, or volatility, in employment in this field (the solid line) relative to the city as a whole (the dotted line). The thick blue bars show the recession of 2001 and the great recession of
This graph shows that construction hiring is very sensitive to the general business cycle. Before the Great Recession, construction hiring was higher than average for the City. During the Great Recession, it was lower than for the City. Since the end of the recession, it has once again been higher than the general economy.
In short, when the economy is good, construction is very good, and when the economy turns down, construction employment turns down even more.
Source | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, New York State Department of Labor,

12. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Common Occupations
Title Ed Level Employment Pay * * *
We now turn to the most common occupations in this sector in New York City. As you can see here, four of the top six occupations typically require a bachelor’s degree or higher. These are also the jobs that pay the most. In fact, many employers recruit candidates from around the country to fill some of these positions. It is highly competitive to secure the most desirable jobs.
However, the most common occupations, such as customer service representative and teller, require a high school diploma, and jobs as accounting clerks and bookkeepers usually require some education beyond high school, but often not a bachelor’s degree. We should mention that these occupations can also be found in other industries..
The asterisked jobs are the ones that the CTE programs are preparing students for. * *
= no formal education = high school credential; = some college or additional training; = at least a bachelor's degree
Sources | New York State Department of Labor: Occupational Employment Statistics, 2016; Statewide Staffing Patterns, September 2015; and Occupational Employment Projections
* = Industry Commission Occupation

13. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Common Occupations
Title Ed Level Employment Pay *
BUILDING OPERATIONS
Title Ed Level Employment Pay *
This slide shows additional occupations in construction, but also three in Building Operations, which many of the CTE programs prepare people for. The three we have profiled here are maintenance and repair workers, landscaping and groundskeeping workers, and stationary engineers and boiler operators, which here in New York City are often called Operating Engineers, because that is the union that represents people in this occupation.
These building operations jobs are also very important in the sustainability sector, as they are the people who have the capacity to operate buildings in an energy efficient way. In the case of landscaping and groundskeeping workers, some people in this occupation work on bioswales, which are sloped retention areas designed to capture and convey water, while allowing the water to infiltrate to the ground slowly. There is a lot of bioswale activity in New York City now as part of many resiliency projects following Superstorm Sandy. * *
= no formal education = high school credential; = some college or additional training; = at least a bachelor's degree
Sources | New York State Department of Labor: Occupational Employment Statistics, 2016; Statewide Staffing Patterns, September 2015; and Occupational Employment Projections
* = Industry Commission Occupation

14. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Online Job Ad Analysis: Top Employers
We also looked at construction trades jobs advertised online. We should say that it appears that construction trades jobs are not typically advertised online, and that construction employers appear to use other methods to fill jobs.
Having said that, these are some of the few employers that do advertise online. There were a total of about 2,000 jobs advertised online in the last 12 months. Many of the online ads appear to be placed by construction staffing firms, not directly by employers, and we have removed most of these from this listing.
Of those who mention an education level in their ads, which most do not, the employers on the right are the top advertisers. The top employers that advertise online X jobs are among the top titles advertised, followed by a couple of titles that typically support X.
The main certification mentioned by employers who advertise online is XX, followed by X.
Source | Labor Insight, Burning Glass Technologies 2017

15. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Online Job Ad Analysis: Top Titles & Certifications
The top job advertised on line by far is Electrician. This is followed by Carpenter, Plumber, and HVAC.
The certifications most often mentioned by employers who advertise online is OSHA, followed by Electrician.
Source | Labor Insight, Burning Glass Technologies 2017

16. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Online Job Ad Analysis: Top Skills
This slide shows the top skills employers requested. There are three categories of skills:
general – these are skills that are important, but are not specific to a particular occupation;
specialized – these are skills that are specific to this field of work and
technical skills – these are the computer and software skills most often needed to carry out work in this field.
Relatively few online ads mention computer skills. The top general skill is troubleshooting, followed by communication skills and preventive maintenance skills.
Work, plumbing and hand tools.
Source | Labor Insight, Burning Glass Technologies 2017

17. Building Operations in NYC Online Job Ad Analysis: Top Employers and Titles
We also looked at online ads for the Building Operations jobs. Again, there are a lot of staffing services advertising, but there are also some actual employers, such as Columbia University and Sears.
The top jobs titles advertised are Maintenance Technician and similar titles.
Source | Labor Insight, Burning Glass Technologies 2017

18. Building Operations in NYC Online Job Ad Analysis: Top Certifications
The top certification mentioned for these jobs is CDL.
Source | Labor Insight, Burning Glass Technologies 2017

19. Building Operations in NYC Online Job Ad Analysis: Top Skills
The top general skills are preventive maintenance, troubleshooting and communication; the top specialized skill, unsurprisingly, is repair, followed by plumbing.
Some asked for computer skills.
Source | Labor Insight, Burning Glass Technologies 2017

20. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Key Industry Trends & Takeaways
Construction is sensitive to the general business cycle.
The number of construction trades jobs has increased.
Most construction workers are employed by specialty trade contractors.
Jobs in construction trades are not typically advertised on-line.
Construction is likely to be stable over the next few years.
So we just reviewed a lot of data in a little amount of time. What can we take away from this?

21. Construction & Sustainability in NYC Information Resources
The New York Building Congress,
The Edward J. Malloy Initiative for Construction Skills, Inc.,
Nontraditional Employment for Women,
NYC Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency,
As you can see, we’ve done quite a bit of research into this field over the past few years and we invite you to take a look at some of the relevant reports and information tools we prepared, including a career exploration guide on “Building and Maintaining Green Buildings” we developed with the DOE a few years ago.

22. NYC Labor Market Information Service
THANK YOU
Ronnie Kauder
NYC Labor Market Information Service
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Room 6202
New York, NY 10016
And that concludes our overview of the NYC labor market and jobs in construction and sustainability. If we have time, I can take a few questions.