Construction job openings were slow to begin the year

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Dive Temporary:

• Construction job openings slowed to start 2026, with the trade counting 231,000 open positions on the final day of January, in keeping with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• That represented a month-to-month drop of 14,000 open jobs from December and 1,000 fewer open positions 12 months to 12 months in comparison with January 2025. Of all building jobs, 2.7% went unfilled on the finish of the primary month of the 12 months.
• Building economists say the information signifies the hiring surroundings has been secure however that companies have maintained a cautious angle towards including a major variety of staff within the face of financial uncertainties.

Dive Perception:

Building employers employed 349,000 new staff for jobs in January, accounting for 4.2% of all positions within the trade. That represented important progress, however economists nonetheless urged warning.

“Whereas building hiring accelerated in January, rising to the quickest charge for the reason that first half of 2025, that’s sadly not saying a lot,” Anirban Basu, chief economist for Related Builders and Contractors, stated in a launch. “The trade’s hiring charge continues to be slower than at any level between the beginning of the information sequence in 2001 and the top of 2019.”

In the meantime, the speed at which building staff give up or have been laid off held regular at 1.7% and a pair of%, respectively, stated Macrina Wilkins, director of market insights for the Related Common Contractors of America.

“The mix of low layoffs and fewer voluntary quits suggests contractors are holding on to staff at the same time as hiring demand stays average,” Wilkins instructed Building Dive through e-mail.

Early data from 2026 indicated construction started the 12 months with much less momentum than in 2025. As megaprojects within the booming knowledge middle and healthcare sectors thrive, exercise within the industrial and institutional segments has slowed down. In the meantime, lingering questions on tariffs and enter prices proceed to place stress on the sector.

For now, contractors seem like holding onto their crews, although they’ve constantly been pushing their plans to rent extra staff additional into the long run, in keeping with Basu. 

“Contractors stay assured that their staffing ranges will increase over the following six months, in keeping with ABC’s Building Confidence Index, though that confidence has remained intact for a lot of the previous a number of years whereas hiring has remained subdued,” stated Basu.