Dive Brief:
- Construction job openings continued a slow start to the year as the industry counted 202,000 open positions on the last day of February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- That figure represented a drop of 28,000 unfilled jobs from January and 53,000 fewer than a year ago. Of all construction jobs, 2.4% remained empty as the month ended.
- Economists flagged stagnation in both hiring and layoffs, indicating that contractors are holding onto their workforce and that workers were less inclined to leave their positions.
Dive Insight:
Construction’s hiring rate cooled significantly in February, dropping to 3.3% from 4.4% in January and 4.2% the year prior. That number reflects the number of hires during the month as a total share of employment.
“Construction hiring fell to the slowest rate on record in February,” said Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors. “The combination of historically slow hiring and exceedingly few separations made February 2026 the month with the least construction labor force churn since the BLS began this survey in December 2000.”
Indeed, the rate of layoffs was largely unchanged at 1.8%, as were quits at 1.5%. Those numbers have remained largely steady compared to recent reports.
“Together, these trends suggest contractors are maintaining existing workforces but are more cautious about expanding headcount, consistent with a broader cooling in labor market conditions seen in the construction industry and the broader economy,” Macrina Wilkins, director of market insights for the Associated General Contractors of America, told Construction Dive.
As with many monthly economic reports, the information lags real time. Notably, headwinds from the Iran war have emerged since it began Feb. 28. Those impacts are yet to be seen in hiring numbers.
“Of course, this data pertains to February, when the Strait of Hormuz was open and the price of oil was under $100 per barrel,” Basu said. “While contractors continue to express optimism regarding their staffing intentions, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, recent data and developments suggest that hiring is unlikely to rebound in the near future.
