{"id":34207,"date":"2026-02-07T12:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-job-openings-rose-to-end-2025\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T12:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:48:13","slug":"construction-job-openings-rose-to-end-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-job-openings-rose-to-end-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction job openings rose to end 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        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:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/811550\/2026-02-06_09.18.15\/construction-job-openings-rise-end-2025-labor-demand.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><span><span><span><span><span><span>Construction job openings continued to bounce back in December, with <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/jolts.nr0.htm\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>292,000 unfilled positions<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> for which employers were actively hiring, according to a Thursday release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>The industry counted 8,000 more open jobs from November, per BLS, and 87,000 more from the same period a year before. All told, 3.4% of all construction jobs went unfilled in the final month of 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nonetheless, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/construction-project-stress-cools-december-2025\/809890\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>economic and project uncertainty<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> has continued to dampen construction hiring, experts say.<\/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>Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu highlighted that construction\u2019s hiring rate <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.org\/News-Media\/News-Releases\/abc-construction-job-openings-rebound-in-december-up-87000-year-over-year\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>bounced back from historic lows<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> this fall as job openings rose to the highest level since July.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThis release paints a slightly more upbeat picture of the construction industry\u2019s labor force dynamics,\u201d Basu said in a release.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The hiring rate was 4.2% in December, which outpaced the job openings rate of 3.4%, noted Macrina Wilkins, director of market insights for the Associated General Contractors of America.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>But there is not wholly a cause for celebration, experts cautioned.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cDespite this improvement, demand for construction workers remains subdued, as has been the case for several quarters. Fewer construction workers were hired in 2024 and 2025 than in any two-year period since 2015-2016,\u201d Basu said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Wilkins noted that the labor market remained &#8220;cautious,&#8221; as layoffs edged up modestly, from 1.7% to 2.1%.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe data point to continued workforce stability alongside gradual improvement in hiring,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Meanwhile, ABC\u2019s analysis of BLS <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.org\/News-Media\/News-Releases\/abc-all-but-5-states-had-construction-unemployment-rates-below-8-in-december-2025\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>construction unemployment data<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> found the overall U.S. construction unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% year over year, to 5% in December. The majority of states had lower estimated construction unemployment rates from last year. A majority also recorded lower unemployment rates than their prepandemic levels.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe construction industry continues to contend with weaker demand from the headwinds of tariffs and supply disruptions pushing building materials prices up, increasing insurance costs and an uptick in immigration enforcement contributing to a shortage of skilled construction workers, which has added to pressure to raise wages and salaries,\u201d Bernard Markstein, president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, said in the release. Markstein Advisors conducted the analysis for ABC.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>At the same time, ABC predicts that construction will need 350,000 net new <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/labor-demand-gap-shrinks-abc-construction-staff\/810681\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>workers to meet demand in 2026<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>. Though that gap is sizable, it remains a reduction in the valley between workers and staffing reality from years past.<\/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-job-openings-rise-end-2025-labor-demand\/811550\/\" 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=\"Construction job openings rose to end 2025\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-job-openings-rose-to-end-2025\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Construction job openings rose to end 2025\">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-34207","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\/34207","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=34207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}