Construction employment added 33,000 jobs on net in January, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. On a year-over-year basis, the industry has expanded by 44,000 jobs—an increase of 0.5%.
The construction unemployment rate rose from 5% in December 2025 to 6.9% in January. The national unemployment rate for all industries fell from 4.4% to 4.3% as the U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs.
Nonresidential construction added 27,900 jobs in January, with gains in two of three subsectors. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 25,100 jobs, and nonresidential building added 3,600 jobs. Heavy and civil engineering lost 800 jobs.
“The construction industry, much like the broader labor market, rebounded in January,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While that’s a welcome development, the industry lost 1,000 jobs in 2025, the first calendar year decline since 2020 and 2010 before that. Much of the industry’s weakness is concentrated in the residential segment, where employment has declined by 43,600 jobs over the past year.
“Despite the lack of job growth in 2025, the industry’s unemployment rate is only modestly higher than one-year ago,” Basu continued. “That dynamic at least partially stems from immigration enforcement and the downward pressure it has put on the industry’s labor supply. Neither last year’s weak employment growth nor current labor force dynamics have weighed on contractor confidence, with ABC members still upbeat about both their sales and staffing levels over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index.”
