The U.S. construction industry reported 249,000 job openings at the end of October, reflecting a decrease of 164,000 from the same period last year, a decline of nearly 40%, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
JOLTS defines job openings as positions actively being recruited for but not yet filled. October's decline represents a month-to-month reduction of 9,000 openings. Over the past six months, an average of 3.4% of construction positions remained unfilled, marking the lowest level since 2020.
ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu attributed the trend to multiple factors, including election-related uncertainty and expectations of falling borrowing costs, which may have delayed hiring. Despite the hiring slowdown, layoffs in October were at a record low. Employment growth in the construction sector has outpaced broader economic trends in recent months, and contractors anticipate a rise in staffing through early 2025, as reported in ABC's Construction Confidence Index.
