Construction Quits Surge to 198,000 in September as Labor Shortages Reemerge

The construction industry had 298,000 job openings on the last day of September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings increased by 36,000 last month and are up by 92,000 from the same time last year.

“Nearly 200,000 construction workers quit their jobs in September,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “That’s the most in any month since the first half of 2023 and a strong indication that the industry’s labor supply is once again tightening. Unsurprisingly, contractors have responded by holding on to workers they otherwise might part with; industrywide layoffs are down by 56,000 year over year, and the layoff rate remains lower than in any month on record prior to 2020.

“Reemerging worker shortages will put upward pressure on labor costs, a dynamic that will exacerbate the effects of high borrowing costs and ongoing materials price escalation,” said Basu. “More than in 1 in 4 contractors expect their profit margins to contract over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, and that share will likely rise if labor shortages continue to intensify into early 2027.”