Dive Brief:
- Open construction jobs fell by 55,000 to 217,000 on the last day of December compared to the last day of November, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday. The report measures the number of positions for which employers actively are seeking workers.
- Openings dropped by 50% on a year-over-year basis. The number of new workers hired in the industry — 301,000 — declined by 16% YOY.
- In addition, contractors laid off or discharged 147,000 workers, relatively unchanged from the month before, but 15% less than in December 2023.
Dive Insight:
“Construction industry hiring slowed to an unprecedented pace in December,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu in a news release. “The hiring rate fell to 3.6% 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% over the past year.”
December’s decrease in job openings comes after a large drop in the summer followed by a slight uptick in November.
Despite these signs of weak demand for labor, both layoffs and quits remain extremely low by historical standards, said Basu.
“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,” he said, noting that a majority of contractors intend to increase their staffing levels over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, suggesting that hiring could pick up during the first half of 2025.
