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Dive Brief:
- Construction job offers increased by 138,000, or almost 60%, in August compared to the previous month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this Tuesday. This jump is the the largest month-on-month increase recordedby Anirban Basu, Chief Economist at Associated Builders and Contractors.
- The report measures the number of open positions for which contractors are actively hiring. In August, 4.3% of all construction jobs were unfilled, up from 2.7% the previous month. However, the job opening rate and number of offers still declined slightly from August 2023.
- The record rise comes after several months of cooling demand, which economists largely attribute to a decline in residential construction as commercial and infrastructure building work sees higher demand.
Diving knowledge:
Basu attributed much of the increase in job postings to the effects of Hurricane Beryl on July job postings.
“Despite this uptick, job postings across the sector are still down 19% since hitting a cyclical high in February, a reflection of the moderation in activity in the face of high interest rates and economic uncertainty,” wrote Basu.
Strong demand for workers remains high, as indicated by workforce surveys, such as the June 30 survey from the Associated General Contractors of America, which indicated nine out of 10 members have open slots which they are struggling to fill.
“Month-end openings exceeded the 338,000 employees hired for the entire month, implying that contractors wanted to bring on board more than twice as many workers as they were able to find,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist from AGC, on Construction Dive.
Another sign that contractors expect to need more workers: Only 2% of construction workers were laid off or furloughed in August. This is the second-lowest August layoff rate in 24 years, according to Simonson.
