Construction Sector Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for February

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) February Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), with a specific focus on the construction labor market and additional analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that after a sharp decline in January, job openings rebounded. The number of open construction jobs increased from a revised reading of 283,000 in January to 412,000 in February. This comes after a data series high of 488,000 in December 2022.

With January being considered an outlier, the NAHB is considering the February construction job openings rate of 4.9% a decrease from the 5.8% data series high in December (the January reading was 3.5%).

Hiring in the construction sector declined to a 4.7% rate in February, which the NAHB still considers to be a solid number. The post-Covid-19 hiring peak occurred in May 2020, posting a 10.5% increase as a rebound took hold in the home building and remodeling.

In February, construction sector layoffs increased to a 2.2% rate. In comparison, the April 2020 layoff rate was 10.8%. Since that time, the layoff rate has been below 3% (with the exception of February 2021 due to weather impacts). Nevertheless, the layoff rate has been at or above 2% for four out of the last three months, which the NAHB says is consistent with a weakening trend.