“In August, significantly high temperatures in much of the West and Southwest and generally above-average temperatures in much of the East may have hindered construction activity in those areas,” said Bernard M. Markstein, Ph.D., president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC. “Meanwhile, higher building materials prices due to tariffs and the threat of additional tariffs have added to concerns about the outlook for construction, which have led to the scaling back of some projects and even the cancelation of a few proposed projects.”

Because these industry-specific rates are not seasonally adjusted, national and state-level unemployment rates are best evaluated on a year-over-year basis. The monthly movement of rates still provides some information, although extra care must be used when drawing conclusions from these variations.