In April 2008, a record number of Canadians were building something — houses, office buildings, roads, bridges, you name it. During the month, the construction industry accounted for 7.2% of all employed workers.

This figure was just slightly above the previous high of 7.1% recorded in December 1976. In fact, construction industry hiring is up by 10.1% year over year, its strongest year-over-year rate of growth since January 1995. Over the past 12 months, the industry has accounted for one of every three new jobs.

This increase comes despite the adverse effects of slower U.S. growth and the dramatic slowdown in manufacturing activity due in part to the appreciation of the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. currency.

The fact that this recent pattern of construction employment growth was not concentrated in Alberta is surprising, however.

Instead, construction employment was up by an unprecedented +30.3% in Newfoundland and Labrador, the result of increases in residential building and stronger government spending on infrastructure.

In New Brunswick, construction employment was up by 20.5% year over year. Next in line were Saskatchewan (+14.8%), British Columbia (+12.1%), Québec (+10.6%) and Manitoba (10.2%).

While not in the double digits, construction job growth was also strong in Ontario (+8.2%) and in Nova Scotia (+7.8%).

Alberta's level was up by a respectable 7.4% year over year in April. However, this rate of construction job growth is well below the 15.8% year-over-year increase recorded in April 2007. Only Prince Edward Island saw construction employment shrink (-5.6%) in April.

Looking forward, the large volume of residential and non-residential projects currently underway should mean construction employment in Canada remains strong into the second half of the year.

However, as we have indicated in previous editions of the Economic Snapshot, the deterioration in the outlook for housing demand and business investment is likely to lead to a slowdown in residential and non-residential construction activity and a corresponding slowdown in construction-industry hiring from late 2008 onward.