AI’s Role in Reshaping Employment: From Theory to Home Building Sector Impacts

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly machine learning and generative AI (GenAI), is reshaping industries, creating new economic opportunities, and raising critical questions about its long-term impact on jobs and economic growth.  A recent study by Ping Wang and Tsz-Nga Wong, titled “Artificial Intelligence and Technological Unemployment” (NBER Working Paper No. 33867, May…

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HBGI Q1 2025: Multifamily Growth in Smaller Markets

Single-family construction growth slowed substantially across all markets in the first quarter of 2025, according to the Home Building Geography Index (HBGI).  Multifamily construction growth remained negative in the largest markets but reported significant expansion in lower population density areas. The HBGI tracks single-family and multifamily permits across seven population density delineated geographies in the…

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Home Building Employment across States and Congressional Districts in 2023

As the number of housing units under construction peaked in 2023, the industry set another record employing close to 11.4 million people, including self-employed workers. NAHB estimates that out of this total, 4.7 million people worked in residential construction, accounting for 2.9% of the U.S. employed civilian labor force. Home building in the Mountain Division,…

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Fringe Benefits Add 18% to Home Building Payroll

In the home building industry, fringe benefits add an additional 18% to employees’ compensation on top of payroll, according to NAHB’s analysis of the latest 2022 Economic Census data. The rates vary across residential construction sub-sectors with single-family and multifamily general contractors contributing an average of 20% on top of payroll. Fringe benefits in residential…

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States and Construction Trades Most Reliant on Immigrant Workers, 2023

As reported in a previous post, immigrants make up one in four workers in the construction industry. The share of immigrants is significantly higher (32.5%) among construction tradesmen. In some states, reliance on foreign-born labor is particularly evident, with immigrants comprising over 40% of the construction workforce in California and New Jersey, and 38% –…

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