Construction Sector Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Results for April

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for March, which was released on Tuesday (5-2-23), with a focus on the construction sector and additional analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that the construction labor market saw a decline in the number of job openings in March.

According to the BLS, the count of open construction jobs decreased from a revised reading of 404,000 in February to 341,000 in March. This comes on the heels of the data series high of 488,000 in December 2022. The NAHB says the overall trend is one of cooling for open construction sector jobs as the housing market slows and backlogs are reduced, with a notable uptick in month-to-month volatility.

Construction sector hiring increased to a solid 5.1% rate in March. The post-pandemic peak of hiring occurred in May 2020, reaching 10.4%.

Construction sector layoffs jumped to a rate of 3.7% in March, consistent with an increase in volatility, the NAHB says. In April 2020, the layoff rate was 10.8%; and since that time, until now, the sector layoff rate has been below 3.0% (with the exception of a weather-related issue in February 2021).