Construction quits hit 190,000 as job openings surge 44.7%

By Grace Kim

Construction job openings climbed 44.7% year over year to 298,000 on the last day of September, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data the agency released Tuesday. The total also rose 13.7% from August.

Anirban Basu, chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, said 190,000 construction workers quit in September. That was the highest quit count since the first half of 2023.

The BLS report showed strong demand for additional employees in booming sectors. Contractors in those sectors still struggled to retain the workers they already employed.

Basu said in ABC’s analysis that the high quit count could indicate a tightening labor market. Contractors responded by holding onto workers they might otherwise have lost, he said. Industrywide layoffs fell by 56,000 year over year, and the layoff rate stayed lower than in any month recorded before 2020.

One in four ABC members expects a contraction in profit margins over the next six months. Basu said a tougher labor market would make that outcome worse.

“Reemerging worker shortages will put upward pressure on labor costs, a dynamic that will exacerbate the effects of high borrowing costs and ongoing materials price escalation,” Basu said.

What does this change for contractors?

Recruitment now sits alongside retention as the central staffing problem. Macrina Wilkins, director of market insights for the Associated General Contractors of America, reported that the hiring rate and job openings rate both increased year over year. Both rates measure their respective flows as a share of total jobs, while the industry’s layoff rate declined over the same period.

“The increase in hiring is a welcome improvement, although the rate remains low by historical standards,” Wilkins told Construction Dive via email.

She said the sharp rise in openings came alongside strong demand for data centers, power projects and select other types of nonresidential construction. Activity in other sectors remained weak. Contractors continued to need workers for the strong projects, but many struggled to find qualified applicants.

Wilkins called the rise in quits “noteworthy.” She identified several possible contributing factors: workers leaving construction for more in-demand sectors, departing for different working conditions, or leaving because of immigration enforcement.

The JOLTS data do not establish why workers leave, Wilkins said. They show the range of challenges contractors face in retaining employees. In her view, falling layoffs suggest firms are holding onto workers even as they continue to struggle to fill open positions.

For contractors, the current labor market presents a sharper trade-off. Booming projects need workers, quits are rising and layoffs are falling, and openings have surged without resolving the shortage of qualified applicants. Basu said worker shortages will push labor costs higher just as high borrowing costs and ongoing materials price escalation burden margins.