Construction Sector Job Openings Increase in November

A closer look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turn Over Survey (JOLTS) report for November, 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 experienced a growth of open construction jobs during the month.

According to the JOLTS report, the number of open construction jobs increased to 459,000 in November from a revised reading of 416,000 in October. The construction job opening rate increased to 5.4% in November. A year ago, the open construction job count was 348,000, during a period when the housing market was cooling. The NAHB notes that the recent rise in job openings in the construction sector reflects an ongoing skilled labor shortage. The data series high for open construction jobs was set in December 2022, when it reached 488,000.

Layoffs in the construction sector were at a rate of 2.1% in November, up slightly from a rate of 2% in October. In April 2020, the layoff rate was 10.8%. Since that time, the sector layoff rate has been below 3% (with the exception of February 2021 due to weather effects and March 2023 due to some market churn), the NAHB noted.