The construction industry added 14,000 in June, according to the Jobs Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of openings reached 246,000, which was 39,000, or 13.7%, down from June 2024.
The hiring rate during the first half of 2025 was lower than during the first six months of any year since the start of the data series in 2000,” Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), noted in a press release. “Contractors have also been laying workers off at a historically slow pace and industrywide employment continues to edge higher, but few job openings and sluggish hiring suggest weak demand for labor.”
In June, the amount of total hires was 351,000, down from 358,000 in May.
Job separations—including layoffs, voluntary quitting and discharges—was 339,000, while that number also reached 358,000 in May. Basu attributes the slow numbers in part to weakness in the residential sector.
"These data likely reflect the fact that the residential segment has struggled mightily this year, while nonresidential employment data have been more upbeat,” said Basu. He cites the findings of the ABC Construction Confidence Index, which said that more than three quarters of survey respondents expect staff numbers to remain the same or grow in the second half of the year. “This suggests that the nonresidential side of the industry will continue to add jobs during the third and fourth quarter of 2025.”
