Construction hiring data indicates a cooling labor market

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Dive Temporary:

• Construction job openings continued a gradual begin to the 12 months because the trade counted 202,000 open positions on the final day of February, in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• That determine represented a drop of 28,000 unfilled jobs from January and 53,000 fewer than a 12 months in the past. Of all building jobs, 2.4% remained empty because the month ended.
• Economists flagged stagnation in each hiring and layoffs, indicating that contractors are holding onto their workforce and that employees had been much less inclined to go away their positions.

Dive Perception:

Development’s hiring price cooled considerably in February, dropping to three.3% from 4.4% in January and 4.2% the 12 months prior. That quantity displays the variety of hires throughout the month as a complete share of employment.

“Development hiring fell to the slowest rate on file in February,” stated Anirban Basu, chief economist for Related Builders and Contractors. “The mix of traditionally gradual hiring and exceedingly few separations made February 2026 the month with the least building labor power churn because the BLS started this survey in December 2000.”

Certainly, the speed of layoffs was largely unchanged at 1.8%, as had been quits at 1.5%. These numbers have remained largely regular in comparison with current stories.

“Collectively, these developments counsel contractors are sustaining present workforces however are extra cautious about increasing headcount, in keeping with a broader cooling in labor market situations seen within the building trade and the broader economic system,” Macrina Wilkins, director of market insights for the Related Basic Contractors of America, informed Development Dive.

As with many month-to-month financial stories, the data lags actual time. Notably, headwinds from the Iran battle have emerged because it started Feb. 28. These impacts are but to be seen in hiring numbers.

“After all, this information pertains to February, when the Strait of Hormuz was open and the worth of oil was below $100 per barrel,” Basu stated. “Whereas contractors proceed to specific optimism concerning their staffing intentions, in response to ABC’s Development Confidence Index, current information and developments counsel that hiring is unlikely to rebound within the close to future.