ABC: Construction Quit Rate Plummets to 9-Year Low

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3—The construction industry had 306,000 job openings on the last day of July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings increased by 64,000 last month and are up by 77,000 from the same time last year.

“The construction job opening rate rose to the highest level in over a year during July,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Given the ongoing decline in nonresidential construction spending, however, that increase is likely attributable to immigration policy and its effects on the industry’s labor force rather than any increases in the demand for construction workers.

“Indeed, other portions of this data release suggest an alarming deterioration in industrywide labor demand,” said Basu. “Fewer construction workers quit their jobs in July than in any month over the past nine years, suggesting widespread concern about job security, while layoffs jumped to the highest level since Q1 of 2023.

“That said, JOLTS data can be volatile from month to month, and it’s difficult to know the degree to which undocumented workers are or are not captured in the data,” said Basu. “More than 55% of ABC members expect to increase their staffing levels over the next six months, according to the July reading of the Construction Confidence Index. That measure will be critical to monitor in the months ahead.”

Visit abc.org/economics for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, plus analysis of spending, employment, job openings and the Producer Price Index.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2025, Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 with 67 chapters and more than 23,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC helps members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. Visit us at abc.org.