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Dive Brief:
- Construction job offers increased in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but hiring and firing rates painted a mixed picture of labor demand.
- The industry reported 298,000 job openings on the last day of the month, up 32,000 from April and up 76,000 from the same month in 2025. Overall, 3.5% of construction jobs went unfilled last month.
- Although the number of job openings rose to the highest level since 2026, the pace at which employers laid off and hired construction workers indicated faltering demand outside the data center boom, as well as a desire to hang on to existing employees, economists said.
Diving knowledge:
of May job postings hit a 10-month highaccording to Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors.
“Unfortunately, this increase likely reflects exceptional demand for certain occupations critical to data center construction, such as electricians, rather than increased labor demand across the industry,” Basu said in a press release. “The increase in layoff activity and the drop in the quit rate also suggest that construction labor demand weakened in May.”
In fact, contractors laid off 174,000 workers in May, 47,000 more than in April. Meanwhile, construction recorded 24,000 fewer contracts month-on-month.
Overall, the construction layoff rate in May was 2.1 percent, down slightly from 2.2 percent a year earlier, said Macrina Wilkins, director of market information for the Associated General Contractors of America.
May also announced the warmest construction season, which provides a lens through which to view the data.
“While warmer weather tends to support construction activity, these numbers are seasonally adjusted, meaning they take into account normal seasonal patterns such as weather and recurring hiring cycles,” Wilkins said. “Therefore, the increase in job postings suggests a modest strengthening of demand for workers rather than simply reflecting the usual spring hiring surge.”
But he also stressed that the slight decrease in layoffs illustrates the desire of employers to keep the workers they already have.
“The latest data from May’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) indicates that contractors continue to take a cautious approach to hiring while working hard to retain their existing workforce,” Wilkins said.
