WASHINGTON—This week, the United States Department of Commerce released data showing residential construction starts dropped 30.2% in April, marking the biggest one-month dip since the the government began tracking housing starts in 1959. 

WASHINGTON (May 8, 2020)—The construction industry lost 975,000 jobs on net in April, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was the largest recorded decrease in construction jobs since the government began tracking employment in 1939, despite construction remaining an essential industry in much of the nation through April.