A month after building hiring was reported to have fallen to its slowest fee on file, contractors reversed course and elevated hiring in March, collectively including an estimated 26,000 positions, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April 3 report.
As they’ve performed previously, specialty contractors led the roles spree, including an estimated 15,100 positions throughout March, with residential specialty contractors boosting employment with 11,200 new hires, and nonresidential specialty commerce contractors including an estimated 3,900 positions.
Constructing contractors added 7,600 positions, with firms working primarily within the nonresidential sector hiring 4,500 new staff, and residential-focused contractors filling roughly 3,100 positions.
Heavy and civil engineering companies added an estimated 3,800 new staff, in line with BLS.
“Industrywide employment has expanded by a median of 19,300 jobs per thirty days in 2026,” Related Builders & Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu said in a statement. “That’s a marked enchancment from 2025, when building employment really declined.”
Ken Simonson, chief economist with Related Common Contractors of America, noting the March increase “greater than offset” February’s 13,000-position decline, added, “It’s particularly heartening to see that the beneficial properties have been current amongst all 5 subsectors of the business.”
Issues persist, although, Basu says, noting that “the March jobs information don’t seize the detrimental methods by which the battle in Iran will proceed to have an effect on the development business.
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“Oil costs have risen to heights not seen since 2022 and diesel costs have soared to $5.40 per gallon, up greater than $1.90 per gallon from the beginning of 2026,” Basu continued, including that increased treasury yields “have put renewed stress on borrowing prices.”
Basu famous that whereas ABC’s Development Confidence Index indicated in February that contractors have been comparatively optimistic concerning the business’s prospects, he stated, “It stays to be seen how lengthy that optimism can persist beneath present financial circumstances.”
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