{"id":31213,"date":"2025-07-06T06:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T13:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/hiring-rate-job-openings-remain-historically-low\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T06:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T13:27:16","slug":"hiring-rate-job-openings-remain-historically-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/hiring-rate-job-openings-remain-historically-low\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiring rate, job openings remain historically low"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/images\/audio_icon.svg?482016190122\" alt=\"-\"><\/p>\n<p>        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1751463973\/news\/text_to_speech\/construction-hiring-job-openings-market_s3adg9.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><span><span><span>Dive Brief:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/jolts.nr0.htm\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Construction counted 3,000 more open jobs<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> on the last day of May compared with April, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Tuesday. The industry had 245,000 unfilled positions at the end of the month.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>That change was minimal compared to the month before, but the current market has been soft in recent months compared to last year, according to Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. May 2025 had about 35% fewer open positions than the same month in 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>At the same time, layoffs also remained historically low, economists said, indicating that contractors are keen to hang onto their workers. \u201cThese figures indicate that contractors are becoming more cautious overall, scaling back on growth and expansion plans, but not turning to widespread layoffs,\u201d said Macrina Wilkins, senior research analyst for the Associated General Contractors of America.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><span><span><span>Dive Insight:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The reluctance to fire or layoff workers reflects an emphasis on labor retention, Wilkins said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cEven with fewer openings and hires, firms are holding on to their current workforce, signaling the continued value they place on skilled workers amid persistent labor shortages and uncertainty around project pipelines,\u201d Wilkins said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The year-to-date <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.org\/News-Media\/News-Releases\/abc-construction-hiring-remains-sluggish-in-may\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>hiring rate in construction is lower<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> than any other year in the series, which began 25 years ago, said Basu in a release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>But low hiring rates, low layoffs and fewer openings don\u2019t paint the whole picture.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cOf course, it\u2019s unclear how immigration policy uncertainty is affecting these data,\u201d Basu said. \u201cTo the extent that a decline in the hiring of undocumented workers is not reflected, the industry could be significantly weaker than it appears.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Indeed, Immigration Customs and Enforcement <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/ice-raids-jobsites-impact-construction-workers\/749786\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>raids on jobsites ramped up<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in May, so the impact on job hiring data is not yet clear. The raids, designed to detain and deport unauthorized workers, not only stall active projects but could have a chilling effect as other jobs pause or assess their workforce risks and needs, experts say.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nonetheless, Basu said contractors remain optimistic in the face of those numbers, with over half of ABC members reporting optimism for staffing in the second half of the year.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/construction-hiring-job-openings-market\/752191\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive &#8230; <a title=\"Hiring rate, job openings remain historically low\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/hiring-rate-job-openings-remain-historically-low\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Hiring rate, job openings remain historically low\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}