Contractors report fewer vacancies, reduced churn and a more cautious approach to staffing
Construction job openings fell again in October as hiring slowed and labor churn eased, signaling a cooling labor market that contrasts sharply with the severe shortages seen during the post-pandemic building surge.
The Associated Builders and Contractors analysis said employers reported 213,000 open positions on October 31, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Openings declined 18,000 from September and 36,000 from a year earlier, marking one of the lowest sustained vacancy levels since before the pandemic labor-market spike.
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ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu described the opening total as “extraordinarily low” relative to recent years and said the broader data aligns with “a fairly dismal stretch of industry data” throughout 2025. The survey—delayed by the autumn federal government shutdown—is the most current official reading of construction labor demand.
Hiring slowed more noticeably than openings. Contractors added 313,000 workers in October, down 42,000 from September and 10,000 below October 2024. Total separations, including quits, layoffs and other departures, declined to 266,000 from 340,000 the prior month. Layoffs fell sharply to 129,000 from 197,000, while quits eased to 120,000 from 136,000, reflecting reduced mobility and a more settled workforce.
Rate measures reinforce the shift: job openings equaled 2.5% of construction employment in October, with hires at 3.8% and separations at 3.2%.
October JOLTS figures show construction job openings, hires, and separations all declined from September, underscoring continued cooling in labor demand relative to 2024.
Graph courtesy of ABC
Long term data compiled by ABC underescores how conditions have cooled. Between 2018 and 2022, job openings frequently exceeded 4%–5% of the workforce, and the quits rate approached 2.5%, signaling intense competition for skilled labor and rapid job-switching. The current quits rate—closer to 1.4%—indicates workers are staying put and contractors are holding onto staff even as project pipelines soften.
Basu said the combination of reduced openings, slower hiring and lower churn indicates an industry that has “been in a state of contraction throughout the majority of 2025.” He emphasized that the data does not reflect widespread retrenchment—layoffs remain comparatively low—but rather more selective hiring as contractors manage uneven nonresidential award and start timing this fall.
The reduced churn carries operational implications. Lower quits mean fewer disruptions to crews, while reduced layoffs suggest contractors are retaining the workers they struggled to secure earlier in the cycle. The result is a more stable but less dynamic labor environment.
Even so, contractors remain “upbeat about their hiring intentions over the next six months,” Basu said, citing ABC’s Construction Confidence Index. That survey—tracking expectations for sales, margins and staffing—has remained above the 50 mark, indicating anticipated growth, suggesting firms expect conditions to firm as delayed infrastructure, manufacturing and energy-transition projects progress.
ABC will integrate the October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results into its broader economic dashboard, with contractors closely watching whether the 2025 slowdown extends into early 2026 or stabilizes as new work is released.
