Construction hiring slows to record low, impacting industry demand

by Christopher Brinckerhoff | February 5, 2025 1:57 pm

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The construction industry had 217,000 job openings on the last day of December 2024, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)[2] analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position an employer actively recruits. Industry job openings decreased by 55,000 in December and are down by 217,000 from the same time in 2023.

“Construction industry hiring slowed to an unprecedented pace in December,” says ABC chief economist Anirban Basu. “The hiring rate fell to 3.6 percent for the month, the lowest level on record aside from the pandemic-affected month of April 2020. This slowdown is a direct result of diminished demand for labor; industrywide job openings have fallen exactly 50 percent over the past year.

“Despite these signs of weak demand for labor, both layoffs and quits remain extremely low by historical standards,” Basu says. “It’s possible that the weak demand for construction labor is the effect of cold weather and slowing activity during the transition between presidential administrations. A majority of contractors intend to increase their staffing levels over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index[3], suggesting that hiring could pick up during the first half of 2025.”

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