Construction's Hiring Freeze: Openings Down 54,000 Year-Over-Year as Industry Holds Its Breath

The Daily Dig

The construction industry posted 224,000 job openings on the last day of March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data. That number climbed 23,000 from February but sits 54,000 below where it was at the same point last year.

Both sides of the labor market have gone quiet. Contractors are holding their crews: the layoff and discharge rate fell to its lowest point since early 2024 and is below any level recorded prior to 2022. Workers are equally reluctant to move. Quit rates are running below the pace typical of the late 2010s and early 2020s, meaning fewer experienced hands are circulating through the open market.

ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu summed it up plainly: the industry's labor market is defined by an utter lack of churn. Hiring rebounded from February's historically low level but remains extremely subdued. Basu noted that while contractors surveyed through ABC's Construction Confidence Index expect staffing to improve this year, the underlying data tells a different story. The industry is in a holding pattern, and it will stay there until economic uncertainty eases.

TheJobWalk Thoughts

When nobody is getting hired, fired, or quitting, the labor pool stops moving. For subcontractors trying to build out crews ahead of project awards, lateral hiring dries up fast in that environment. The workers you want are not on the market because nobody is letting them go and nobody is leaving voluntarily.

The 54,000 year-over-year drop in openings is the more telling number. It shows contractors are not actively recruiting to expand, they are managing what they have and waiting. Basu points directly to economic uncertainty as the reason. For suppliers and equipment dealers, that means purchasing decisions are being deferred, not cancelled. The pipeline is there. The commitment is not, yet.