Dive Brief:
- Construction job openings leapt by 138,000, or by nearly 60%, in August from the previous month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. That jump is the largest month-over-month increase on record, per Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors.
- The report measures the number of open positions for which contractors are actively hiring. In August, 4.3% of all construction jobs went unfilled, up from 2.7% the month prior. Still, the open job rate and number of openings were still down slightly from August 2023.
- The record increase comes after several months of cooling demand, which economists largely attributed to decreases in residential construction, as commercial building and infrastructure work see higher demand.
Dive Insight:
Basu attributed much of the job openings surge to the effects of Hurricane Beryl on July’s job openings numbers.
“Despite this bounceback, industrywide job openings are still down 19% since hitting a cyclical peak in February, a reflection of moderating activity in the face of high interest rates and economic uncertainty,” Basu wrote.
The high demand for workers remains high, as indicated by workforce surveys, such as the June 30 poll by the Associated General Contractors of America, which indicated nine in 10 members have open positions that they are struggling to fill.
“End-of-month openings exceeded the 338,000 employees hired during the entire month, implying that contractors wanted to bring on board more than twice as many employees as they were able to find,” Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist, told Construction Dive.
Another sign indicates that contractors expect to need more workers: only 2% of construction employees were laid off or discharged in August. That’s the second-lowest August layoff rate in 24 years, per Simonson.
