Construction Job Openings Hit Highest Level Since December 2022

Data recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 459,000 construction jobs are unfilled, the highest amount since the end of 2022.

Analysis of the report by the Associated Builders and Contractors indicates that industry job openings increased by 43,000 last month and were up by 111,000 from the same time last year.

“November’s 5.4% job opening rate is higher than at any point from the start of the data series in 2000 to the end of 2021," said Anirban Basu, ABC's chief economist. 

Construction employment in December totaled 8,056,000, seasonally adjusted. Per analysis, only 2,000 jobs were added to the construction sector in November and there was an increase of 17,000 in December.. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 197,000  jobs, an increase of 2.5%, still outpacing the 1.7% job growth in the overall economy.

Associated Builders and Contractors“Although construction employment is still growing in most parts of the country, it is falling in more places than earlier this year,” said Ken Simonson, Associated General Contractors of America’s chief economist. “In some cases, firms are seeing a slowdown in demand, but for many the biggest challenge is finding enough workers to hire.”

A related report shows that construction employment declined in almost a quarter of metro areas between November 2022 and November 2023 as demand tapered in some parts of the country and labor shortages made it hard for contractors to fill vacancies.

With nearly half of contractors indicating in recent surveys done by the associations that they plan to increase their staffing levels over the six months, wage pressures are expected to remain in place through the early parts of 2024.