Construction Job Openings Surge to Record High
The labor market continues to tighten, especially for the construction industry.
The count of open construction jobs increased to 410,000 unfilled positions in October, the highest measure in the history of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data series (going back to late 2000).
The housing market remains underbuilt and requires additional labor, lots, and lumber and building materials to add inventory.
The job openings rate in construction surged to 5.4% in October, with 410,000 open positions in the sector. This is significantly higher than the 253,000 count recorded a year ago.
Looking forward, the construction job openings rate is likely to see increased upward pressure as both the residential and nonresidential construction sectors trend higher. Attracting skilled labor will remain a key objective for construction firms in the coming quarters and will become more challenging as the labor market strengthens and the unemployment rate declines.
NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz provides more analysis in this Eye on Housing blog post.
Latest from NAHBNow
Aug 11, 2025
America’s Housing Supply Crisis: Is the Suburban Frontier Closing?A recent working paper titled “America’s Housing Supply Problem: the Closing of the Suburban Frontier?” dives into why the supply of new housing has shifted lower, especially in the sunbelt regions like Dallas, Atlanta and Phoenix.
Aug 08, 2025
Canadian Lumber Duties Hit 35% — And May Go Higher SoonThe U.S. Commerce Department announced today that it is more than doubling its countervailing duties on Canadian lumber imports from 6.74% to 14.63%.
Latest Economic News
Aug 11, 2025
Market Share for Modular and Other Non-Site Built Housing in 2024The total market share of non-site built single-family homes (modular and panelized) was just 3% of single-family homes in 2024, according to completion data from the Census Bureau Survey of Construction data and NAHB analysis.
Aug 08, 2025
Foundation Types in 2024: Slabs Continue to Rise, Crawl Spaces DeclineIn 2024, 73% of new single-family homes started were built on slab foundations, according to NAHB analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC).
Aug 08, 2025
Weaker Demand for Residential Mortgages in Second QuarterIn the second quarter of 2025, overall demand for residential mortgages was weaker, while lending standards for most types of residential mortgages were essentially unchanged, according to the recent release of the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS).