The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey shows the construction industry registered 274,000 job openings in March, which is down by 182,000 from February and down by 17,000 from March 2023, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. The survey defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting.
Construction workers quit at a faster rate than they were laid off; the quit rate in March was 1.9%, and the layoff/discharge rate was 1.8%.
“Construction job openings plunged in March, falling to the lowest level since October 2020,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While there are many headwinds facing the industry, including the prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates, this dismal number likely reflects a statistical aberration rather than a legitimate decline in demand. We know that the construction industry added jobs at a rapid pace in March, and both backlog and contractor confidence improved for the month, according to ABC's Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, respectively.
“We have seen this kind of volatility in the JOLTS data before; construction job openings also plunged last March,” Basu continued. “Which is to say, on a year-over-year basis, openings are only down modestly. The sizable decline in openings observed in March 2023 and 2024 may reflect seasonal hiring patterns that are not reflected in the BLS’s seasonal adjustment factors. Accordingly, these data should not be viewed as a sign of an industry slowdown, at least not without another month or two of data to corroborate it.”
