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Dive Brief:
- Open construction jobs fell to 288,000 on the last day of September, a decrease of 40,000 or about 12% from the previous month, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Tuesday.
- The report measures the number of open positions for which contractors are actively hiring. In September, 3.4% of construction jobs went unfilled, below the overall rate of 4.5%. Job openings fell by 134,000, or about 32%, from September 2023.
- Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors, attributed some of the decline to Hurricane Helenewhich temporarily reduced the number of open construction sites in the southeastern US
Diving knowledge:
Helene, which touched down at the end of the month, likely affected job offers due to its timing, Basu said.
“Hurricane Helene, which did not dissipate until September 29, temporarily suppressed the number of open construction positions in the Southeast,” Basu wrote in a statement. “Because the BLS measures job openings on the last day of the relevant month, the data in this JOLTS release is nearly skewed.”
In fact, ABC data indicates that about half of its members intend to increase hiring in the next six months, indicating that the drop in openings does not mean a true softening in demand.
The storm played a big role in the September numbers, but the decline started earlier, said Macrina Wilkins, senior research analyst at the Associated General Contractors of America. The job offers began downward trend year-on-year in Augustwhich experienced a decrease of 4% compared to the same month of the previous year.
“In hurricane-hit states like Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, there was only a slight decrease in the number of construction jobs added in September compared to the previous month,” Wilkins said. “This suggests that while local disruptions from Hurricane Helene likely affected openings, they may not have been the only factor driving the decline.”
Wilkins also noted that the job opening figure reflects postings on the last available day of the month, although other figures, such as hiring, cover those made throughout the month.
“This difference could explain why, while job openings decreased, hiring increased by 9 percent over last year,” Wilkins said. “In other words, while hiring remained strong, companies may have paused new postings after the impact of the hurricane.”
