The nation’s construction industry added 8,000 jobs last month, according to the Aug. 5 employment report by the U.S. Labor Department. The construction industry has added 32,000 jobs in the past 12 months, and its unemployment rate now stands at 13.6 percent, compared with 15.6 percent in June.

“Today’s jobs report is certainly viewed as good news,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Many economists — including myself — feared the worst, with some predicting that today’s numbers would indicate that the nation lost jobs in July.

“Instead, the employment numbers easily exceeded expectations and reflected a greater level of economic momentum than has been recently perceived.”

The nonresidential building construction sector added 2,100 jobs for the month and 4,900 jobs from the same time last year, with employment standing at 662,700.

In contrast, the residential building construction sector lost 1,100 jobs in July and has lost 8,000 jobs, or 1.4 percent, in the past 12 months.

“Unfortunately, the jobs report is backward-looking and does not reflect the impact of the recent market downturn and associated loss in confidence,” Basu said. “In other words, the jobs momentum may not continue through August and into September, including in the nation’s construction industry.

“The recent economic slowdown, combined with the chilling effects of the debt ceiling stalemate, Europe’s economic woes and other factors, is likely to have slowed hiring more recently,” Basu said. “The key going forward is likely to be consumer spending, since that is now essentially the only part of the economy that can push the economy forward briskly.”