July Construction Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report Released

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), with analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a look specifically on the construction sector, reveals that the number of open construction jobs declined in July to 321,000 unfilled positions. Overall, hiring in the construction sector remained substantial in July, increasing to a rate of 5.2%.

The post-virus peak rate of hiring occurred in May 2020 (10.3%) as a rebound took hold in home building and remodeling. Hiring has generally slowed since that time, with the exception of a weather-related rebound in March 2021. Construction sector layoffs in July were at a 2.4% rate. In April 2020, the layoff rate was 10.9%. Since that time however, the sector layoff rate has been below 3%, apart from February 2021 due to weather effects. The job openings rate in construction moved lower to 4.2% in July, with 321,000 open positions in the sector. This is higher than the 298,000 count, recorded a year ago.