Construction Hiring Still Slow, Even with Nonresidential Increase
The construction industry added 9,000 jobs on net in April, an increase of only 0.6% or 50,000 jobs, on a year-over-year basis.
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Nonresidential construction employment increased by 19,000 positions, with gains in all three sub-categories. Nonresidential specialty trades added the most jobs, increasing by 12,600 positions.
Building and heavy and civil engineering added 5,600 and 800 jobs, respectively, in April.
“Construction employment expanded modestly in April, but that’s largely due to weakness on the residential side of the industry,” said Anirban Basu, Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist. “Nonresidential construction employment rose at a healthy pace for the month and is up a respectable 2.0% over the past year.”
He said the strength is primarily seen in the surging data center construction spending, which is up 34% over the past year
However, as of the last day of March, there were 224,000 construction job openings, an increase of 23,000.
“The industry’s labor market continues to be defined by an utter lack of churn,” Basu said.
He said the industry has rebounded from February historically lowl levels but remains subdued.
“Contractors also remain reluctant to fire workers; the layoff/discharge rate fell to the slowest pace since early 2024 and is lower than at any point prior to 2022,” he said.
In April, the construction unemployment rate was 3.8%, compared to unemployment across all industries remaining unchanged at 4.3%.
“These stagnant labor market dynamics suggest that the industry remains in a holding pattern, one it will not exit until economic uncertainty lessens,” Basu said.
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