Open Construction Jobs Plunge 40%, but Economists Question Data

The number of construction job openings dropped by 39.9% from a month earlier to 274,000 on the last day of March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data measures the number of open positions for which contractors are actively hiring.

March 2023 also saw a low number of job openings at 291,000, about a 6% drop year over year. In 2024, March ended with 3.2% of all jobs unfilled, compared to 3.5% in 2023.

Although the March 2024 number was the lowest since October 2020, per Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu, experts say that the drop isn’t a cause for immediate concern, as a number of factors could have contributed to the dip.

To read more of this story from our sister publication, Construction Dive, click here.