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Dive Brief:
- The the construction industry will have to attract An estimated 349,000 net new workers to keep up with demand this year, according to data from Associated Builders and Contractors. This number will increase to 456,000 by 2027 as spending growth is set to resume.
- This gap is certainly considerable, but also represents a precipitous fall. By 2025, ABC predicted a need for 439,000 new workers. In each of the previous two years, the group predicted the need for more than half a million new faces.
- By not bringing in the necessary workers, “will worsen labor shortages, particularly in certain occupations and regions, putting further upward pressure on labor costs,” ABC chief economist Anirban Basu said in the statement.
Diving knowledge:
Basu attributed the narrowing of the labor gap in part to modest construction spending growth forecasts for 2026 and 2027. However, he said the forecasts could turn out to be overly conservative and that demand could, in fact, be higher than indicated.
That would likely arise if “project financing costs unexpectedly decline or lingering political uncertainty is resolved quickly and favorably,” Basu said. He also noted that non-residential specialty trade contractors have added 95,000 jobs since August 2024, “showing that certain non-residential construction contracting sectors are in good shape.”
But contractors may find themselves forced to hire staff because of experienced workers nearing the end of their careers, as well as ongoing political and economic uncertainty, ABC President and CEO Mike Bellaman said in the statement.
“Given current assumptions about potential industry growth, the majority of demand for new workers in 2026 will be attributable to retirements rather than increased demand for construction services, despite the ongoing boom in AI infrastructure construction,” Basu said.
In fact, the The construction industry has had an age problem for years, with the average worker closer to retirement than the total US workforce overall. However, there may be hope to bolster the numbers as Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, are more likely to join construction occupations, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Meanwhile, Basu described immigration policy as a “potential wild card for the workforce in the sector It’s not clear to what extent unauthorized workers have left the U.S. construction workforce, he said, but the data indicates that “the flow of undocumented workers into the country fell precipitously in 2025, while voluntary deportations accelerated.”
Despite the narrowing gap, Bellaman reiterated the challenges construction employers will face in finding workers, especially those with in-demand skills.
“The construction industry must not fall off the cliff of labor shortages,” Bellaman said. “To avoid this outcome and strengthen the talent pipeline, now is the time for action, not complacency, to reaffirm that the construction industry offers careers of choice in today’s complex job market.”
