Construction Job Market Softens

The number of open construction sector jobs remained lower than a year earlier, according to the December Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The total number of open jobs in the economy declined from 8.16 million in November to 7.6 million in December.

This is significantly lower than the 8.89 million estimate from a year ago, reflecting a softening aggregate labor market.

A previous NAHB study suggested that this figure needed to fall below 8 million consistently for the Federal Reserve to feel more confident about labor market conditions and their potential influence on inflation.

With national job opportunities expected to continue below 8 million, the Fed should be able to cut further, notwithstanding a recent pause.

The number of open construction positions fell from a revised 272,000 in November to 217,000 in December.

This represents a large decrease in open, unfilled construction jobs from a year earlier (434,000), owing to a slowing of construction activity caused by high lending rates.

In December, the construction job openings rate dropped to 2.5%, down from 5.1% the previous year.

This is the lowest open rate in the construction industry since 2017.

In December, the construction layoff rate remained modest (1.8 percent).

The quit rate decreased to 1.4% in December. This is the lowest construction quit rate since the third quarter of 2020.

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