Data compiled February 2026 using the latest available federal and industry sources (most series current through December 2025–January 2026, with January figures preliminary pending final BLS revision).

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Executive Summary

~8.3 million U.S. construction workers (NAICS 23, latest available)

~92% Share of firms reporting difficulty finding qualified workers (AGC, 2025)

~30% Share of total compensation attributable to benefits

As of early 2026, the U.S. construction workforce is operating under compounding structural pressure. Employment has continued to edge higher, reaching approximately 8.31 million in January 2026, but labor supply remains severely constrained relative to demand. Hiring difficulty is widespread, skill requirements are intensifying, and demographic headwinds are accelerating.

Construction employment grew modestly through late 2025 and into January 2026, with the sector adding 33,000 jobs in January, nearly one in four of all jobs created nationwide that month. Production and nonsupervisory roles account for roughly 73% of the workforce, underscoring construction’s deep reliance on hands-on craft labor. While headline employment remains positive, the labor market beneath the surface is strained: firms cannot find enough qualified workers, and those they do find are increasingly expensive to hire and retain.

The scale of hiring difficulty is remarkable. According to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) 2025 Workforce Survey, 92% of construction firms that are hiring report having a hard time finding qualified workers. Nearly half (45%) say labor shortages are the leading cause of project delays. Meanwhile, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) estimates the industry needs to attract 349,000 net new workers in 2026 to meet demand, with that figure rising to 456,000 in 2027.

Compensation pressure continues to build. Average hourly earnings for all construction employees reached $40.55 per hour as of January 2026, while production and nonsupervisory workers earned $38.26 per hour. Total compensation costs are rising at roughly 3.8–4.0% annually, with benefits representing about 30% of total labor costs, slightly lower than manufacturing, which may contribute to retention challenges.

Workforce risk is increasingly structural. Roughly one in five construction workers is over 55, and retirement, not increased demand, is the primary driver of new-worker need. Immigration enforcement has directly or indirectly affected 28% of construction firms, constraining a labor pool in which foreign-born workers represent roughly a quarter of payroll employment and a third of craft workers. At the same time, the boom in AI data center construction is pulling the highest-skilled trades workers (electricians, welders, HVAC technicians) away from other projects, intensifying inter-sector competition for the same labor.

Through 2026, workforce challenges are unlikely to resolve through economic cycles alone. Construction firms that align workforce planning with compensation strategy, skills development, safety investment, and flexible staffing will be best positioned to deliver projects on time amid ongoing uncertainty.

Related: Your Ultimate List of Construction Conferences in 2026

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Key Construction Workforce Benchmarks at a Glance (2025–2026)

Workforce size Total construction employment: ~8.31 million (January 2026, preliminary) — BLS CES

Workforce composition Production & nonsupervisory share: ~73% — BLS CES

Labor availability Unemployment rate (previously employed in construction): ~5.0–6.9% (Dec 2025–Jan 2026) — BLS CPS

Vacancy pressure Firms reporting difficulty filling positions: 92% — AGC 2025 Workforce Survey Firms reporting project delays from labor shortages: 45% — AGC 2025 Workforce Survey

New worker demand Net new workers needed in 2026: ~349,000 — ABC Net new workers needed in 2027: ~456,000 — ABC

Hiring dynamics Construction job openings: ~257k–292k (Nov–Dec 2025, JOLTS) — BLS JOLTS

Pay benchmarks Average hourly earnings (all employees): $40.55/hour (January 2026, CES) — BLS CES Average hourly earnings (production & nonsupervisory): $38.26/hour (January 2026) — BLS CES

Total compensation Compensation per hour worked: $49.05/hour (Q2 2025, ECEC) — BLS ECEC Benefits share of compensation: ~30.4% — BLS ECEC

Workforce stability Union membership rate: 10.3% (2024) — BLS CPS

Safety Total recordable injury rate: 2.2 cases per 100 workers (2024) — BLS SOII Fatal injuries: 1,099 deaths (2023) — BLS CFOI

Productivity Labor productivity (output per hour) growth: +1.9% (2024) — BLS Productivity

Future outlook Share of firms planning to increase headcount: 63% — AGC/Sage 2026 Outlook Share struggling to find qualified workers: >80% — AGC/Sage 2026 Outlook

Related: California Minimum Wage 2026: All Rates & Requirements

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1. Overview of the U.S. Construction Workforce

~73% Production and nonsupervisory share of the construction workforce

Construction employment has continued its modest upward trajectory into 2026. Total employment edged from 8.24 million in October 2025 to 8.28 million in November, 8.28 million in December (preliminary), and 8.31 million in January 2026 (preliminary). In January, the construction sector accounted for 33,000 of the 130,000 total jobs added nationwide, nearly one in four, reflecting sustained infrastructure investment and private development activity.

Production and nonsupervisory employees, the workers who physically build, make up the majority of the construction workforce at approximately 6.04 million, or roughly 73% of total employment. This composition reflects construction’s deep and ongoing dependence on hands-on craft labor that is difficult to automate or replace quickly.

The sector comprises three major subsectors under NAICS 23: Construction of Buildings (236), Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (237), and Specialty Trade Contractors (238). Specialty trades, including electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and concrete work, represent the largest share and are where hiring pressure is most acute.

Unemployment among workers previously employed in construction has shown seasonal volatility, rising from 4.1% in November to 5.0% in December and 6.9% in January 2026. These rates are higher than manufacturing and reflect the seasonal and project-based nature of construction work. Notably, October 2025 data was unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

Underlying employment dynamics tell a more nuanced story. Gross job gains in construction totaled 699,000 in Q1 2025, compared to gross job losses of 608,000, indicating net positive momentum. The number of private construction establishments reached approximately 950,000 in Q2 2025, underscoring the industry’s vast and fragmented structure.

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2. Hiring Pressure and Vacancy Rates

92% Of construction firms report difficulty finding qualified workers

Despite what headline employment data might suggest, the construction industry is experiencing one of the most severe and sustained hiring crunches of any major sector. The AGC 2025 Workforce Survey, conducted with NCCER, found that 92% of firms that are hiring report having a hard time finding qualified workers. This figure reflects firms actively seeking to fill positions, not the industry as a whole, but its consistency across multiple years of AGC surveys suggests the difficulty is persistent rather than anomalous.

The problem is not just volume, it is qualification. Fifty-seven percent of firms report that available candidates lack essential skills or do not have the appropriate license for the position. The industry doesn’t simply need more bodies; it needs trained, certified, job-ready workers.

Federal labor market data reinforces the picture. Job openings in construction rose to 257,000 in November and 270,000 in December 2025 (preliminary), with December openings up 42% year-over-year. Hires and separations data show elevated churn: hires totaled 226,000 in November while separations reached 296,000; December showed 182,000 hires against 369,000 separations (preliminary), a pattern reflecting both seasonal effects and the underlying difficulty of maintaining stable crews.

The severity of these pressures varies significantly by region. AGC’s 2025 Workforce Survey includes regional and state-level fact sheets showing that immigration enforcement impacts, for example, ranged from 75% of firms affected in Georgia to just 8% in Idaho. Hiring difficulty, wage escalation, and project delay rates all differ based on local labor supply, project mix, and proximity to high-demand segments like data center construction. National benchmarks provide essential context, but construction leaders should evaluate these figures against conditions in their specific markets.

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3. Labor Supply Constraints

349,000 Net new workers needed in 2026 (ABC)

Behind the hiring difficulty numbers is a deeper structural problem: the supply of available construction workers is shrinking, and the forces driving that contraction are not easily reversed.

ABC estimates the industry needs to attract 349,000 net new workers in 2026, with that number rising to 456,000 in 2027 as construction spending growth resumes. According to ABC’s model, every additional $1 billion in construction spending creates demand for approximately 3,450 new jobs.

Critically, the majority of near-term new-worker demand is driven by retirement rather than growth. Roughly one in five construction workers is over the age of 55, and Deloitte projects that 41% of the current construction workforce will retire by 2031, while only 10% of current workers are under 25. Apprenticeships and licensing require years of training, meaning the replacement pipeline cannot be built overnight.

Immigration policy is adding further constraint. The AGC survey found that 28% of construction firms have been affected directly or indirectly by immigration enforcement activities in the past six months. Twenty percent report that subcontractors lost workers, while 10% say workers left or failed to appear due to actual or rumored enforcement actions. Only 10% of firms use the H-2B visa program or other temporary work visa programs.

The AIA Consensus Construction Forecast provides essential context: of the 12 million payroll and nonpayroll employees in the construction industry, a quarter are foreign-born, and this share rises to a third for craft workers. An estimated half of these foreign-born workers are undocumented, making construction more exposed to immigration enforcement than nearly any other industry. (For deeper data on immigrant workers across sectors, see Amtec’s Immigrant Labor Force Statistics report.) Rising wages may attract some domestic workers into the trades over time, but the pace of that pipeline is slow, with only 7% of potential job seekers considering construction careers, wage increases alone are unlikely to close the gap left by reduced immigration flows in the near term.

Compounding these pressures, the surge in AI data center construction is pulling the most skilled trades workers (electricians, welders, HVAC technicians) toward more lucrative projects, exacerbating shortages in residential, commercial, and institutional construction.

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4. Construction Workforce Pay Benchmarks

$38.26/hour Average hourly earnings for production & nonsupervisory workers (January 2026)

Compensation continues to be a central workforce challenge in construction and a primary tool for attracting and retaining talent in a historically tight labor market.

As of January 2026, average hourly earnings for all construction employees reached $40.55 per hour, while production and nonsupervisory workers earned $38.26 per hour. Average weekly hours stood at 39.2 for all employees and 40.0 for production and nonsupervisory workers.

Construction wages are rising faster than the broader economy. The Employment Cost Index shows wages and salaries in construction increasing 4.3% year-over-year as of Q4 2025, reflecting the intense competition for skilled workers. First-year union settlement increases averaged 4.7% in 2025, a rate that has held stable since 2023 according to the Construction Labor Research Council.

The union wage premium remains substantial. Union construction workers earned a median of $1,530 per week in 2024, compared to $1,051 for nonunion workers, a gap of nearly 46%.

Wage pressure is increasingly role-specific rather than uniform, driven by skill scarcity in occupations directly tied to the highest-growth construction segments. BLS occupational data for 2024 shows the range:

• Construction managers: $50.26/hour median ($104,530/year)
• Electricians: $29.53/hour median ($61,420/year)
• Operating engineers and equipment operators: $29.31/hour median ($60,950/year)
• Carpenters: $28.79/hour median ($59,890/year)
• Construction laborers: $22.63/hour median ($47,070/year)

Electricians and specialty trades workers are commanding the steepest premiums, fueled by data center and energy infrastructure demand. BlackRock projects electrician employment to grow 9.5% from 2024 to 2034 and HVAC technicians to grow 8.1%. Both well above the 3.1% overall employment growth rate.

The AGC 2025 Workforce Survey found that seven out of eight firms raised base pay for workers as much or more than they did a year earlier. For firms competing in markets where data center and energy projects are concentrated, wage escalation is not optional, it is the cost of keeping crews intact.

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5. Total Compensation and Benefits

$49.05/hour Total compensation per hour worked in construction (Q2 2025, ECEC)

Wages alone do not reflect the true cost of employing construction workers, or the full value proposition available to attract and retain them. Total employer compensation in construction averaged $49.05 per hour worked in Q2 2025, according to BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC).

Here’s where that $49.05 actually goes, and why the breakdown matters for firms evaluating whether their compensation package is competitive. Wages and salaries account for $34.16 per hour (69.6% of total compensation), while total benefits account for $14.89 per hour (30.4%). Within benefits, insurance costs $3.60 per hour (7.3%), retirement contributions cost $2.15 per hour (4.4%), and paid leave costs $2.38 per hour (4.9%).

Total compensation in construction is growing at approximately 3.8–4.0% annually (Q2–Q4 2025, ECI), with wages and salaries growing slightly faster at 4.1–4.3%.

Benefits access among construction workers is broad but not universal. BLS National Compensation Survey data for 2025 shows that 75% of private construction workers have access to employer-sponsored health care, 81% have access to paid vacation, 72% have access to paid sick leave, and 72% have access to retirement benefit plans.

However, participation lags access: only 53% of workers with retirement plan access actually participate, and just 47% participate in defined contribution plans. Defined benefit plan access is low at 12%.

Mean vacation days total 7 after one year of service and 13 after 20 years.

Construction’s benefits share of total compensation (30.4%) is lower than manufacturing’s (~33%). At the individual worker level, a 2.6 percentage point difference may not be immediately visible, but in aggregate, it signals that construction firms may be underinvesting in the non-wage components that increasingly influence retention decisions. In a labor market where workers feel confident enough to move (quits rose 31% year-over-year in December), competing on hourly pay alone while offering thinner benefits leaves firms exposed to employers in manufacturing, energy, and other sectors that present a more complete compensation package.

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6. Workforce Stability and Union Representation

Union membership in construction stood at 10.3% in 2024, continuing a steady multi-year decline from 12.6% in 2021. Workers represented by unions, including non-members covered by collective bargaining agreements, totaled 11.2%.

Despite declining membership rates, union influence on construction compensation remains significant. Union members earned a median of $1,530 per week in 2024, compared to $1,051 for nonunion workers and union wages have been growing steadily, from $1,344 per week in 2021 to $1,530 in 2024. These premiums, along with union benefit structures, continue to set market expectations across the broader sector even for nonunion firms.

Labor market dynamics suggest retention is an active challenge regardless of union status. JOLTS data shows quits in construction increased 31% year-over-year in December 2025, with the quits rate climbing from 1.4% to 1.8%. Workers appear confident enough in the market to move, which means employers must work harder to keep them.

Workforce satisfaction and retention outcomes are increasingly shaped by local labor market conditions, scheduling practices, safety culture, benefits, and advancement opportunities rather than representation status alone. In a market this tight, every dimension of the employment experience matters.

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7. Safety, Injuries, and Workforce Risk

1,099 Construction fatalities (2023)

Construction remains one of the most physically dangerous sectors in the U.S. economy. While the industry’s total recordable injury rate (2.2 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2024) is actually lower than manufacturing’s 2.8, the fatality picture tells a very different story.

Construction recorded 1,099 workplace deaths in 2023, making it consistently the deadliest sector by total count. This figure is disproportionately high relative to construction’s share of total U.S. employment.

Looking more closely at nonfatal injuries, 0.9 cases per 100 workers involved days away from work, while 0.4 per 100 involved days of job transfer or restriction, and 1.3 per 100 involved days away, restriction, or transfer combined.

The connection between workforce planning and safety outcomes is direct and material. When crews are short, overtime increases, supervision is stretched thin, and less experienced workers are placed in higher-risk positions. The AGC 2025 Workforce Survey confirms that labor shortages are causing project delays for 45% of firms, and understaffed projects face compounding pressures that elevate both human and operational risk.

For construction leaders, safety is not separate from workforce strategy, it is a core component of it. Firms with strong safety cultures are better positioned to attract and retain workers, reduce workers’ compensation costs, and avoid the project disruptions that follow serious incidents.

Note: 2023 fatality data reflects a NAICS 2022 series break. Data for years prior to 2023 are available separately from BLS.

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8. Productivity, Output, and Labor Costs

+1.9% Labor productivity (output per hour) growth (2024)

Productivity trends are essential context for understanding whether the construction industry can absorb rising labor costs without eroding margins.

Recent data from the BLS Productivity and Costs program shows construction labor productivity (output per hour) grew 1.9% in 2024, following a 2.4% gain in 2023. This represents a meaningful recovery from steep declines of –3.1% in 2021 and –7.0% in 2022. Total factor productivity, which accounts for capital, energy, materials, and services inputs alongside labor, grew 1.2% in 2024.

Output growth has been healthy at 3.6% in 2024, supported by infrastructure spending, data center construction, and continued residential demand. Combined inputs grew 2.4%, with capital input up 3.6% and labor input up 2.1%.

However, the math remains challenging. With wages rising at approximately 4.3% annually and labor productivity growing at 1.9%, labor costs are outpacing productivity gains. This puts direct pressure on contractor margins, particularly for firms operating under fixed-price agreements where tariff-related cost increases and labor escalation cannot be passed through to project owners.

Construction has historically lagged other sectors in productivity improvement, a structural issue tied to the fragmented, project-based, and site-specific nature of the work. Deloitte’s 2026 E&C Outlook notes that firms are increasingly deploying technologies such as building information modeling (BIM), prefabrication, modular construction, and AI-driven scheduling to improve output per hour. However, adoption remains uneven, and poor-quality data continues to undermine the reliability of analytics and AI solutions at many firms.

Sustaining productivity gains depends not just on technology investment but on workforce skill levels. Workers must be trained to use digital tools effectively, and firms that invest in both technology and people will see compounding returns. Those that invest in one without the other will likely be disappointed.

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9. Construction Spending and Sector Outlook

~$2.24 trillion Total U.S. construction spending (2025 estimate)

Understanding where construction spending is headed is essential for workforce planning, because spending growth directly drives labor demand and the current outlook is unusually unbalanced.

The AIA Consensus Construction Forecast (January 2026) projects just a 1.0% gain in nonresidential building spending for 2026, increasing to 2.2% in 2027. Since these figures are not adjusted for inflation, real growth is likely flat or negative. The forecast panel noted that 2025 results were disappointing across the board: a projected 1.5% gain in commercial spending instead became a 3% decline, and manufacturing spending fell approximately 5%.

The picture varies dramatically by sector:

Strong: Data centers stand alone as the dominant growth engine. Spending increased an estimated 32% in 2025, and AIA forecast panelists expect additional gains of 26% this year and nearly 17% in 2027. For the past three years, data centers, warehouses, and manufacturing together have accounted for over 40% of all spending on building construction nationally, up from 25% in 2019.

Growing: Healthcare and hotels. Healthcare spending is projected to increase 4.6% in 2026, supported by strong demographic tailwinds from an aging population. Hotel construction is recovering from pandemic-era collapse, with projected growth of just over 3% this year.

Stalled: Education, retail, warehouses, and recreation. These sectors face modest-to-flat spending outlooks driven by weak consumer confidence, pandemic-era overbuilding in warehouses, and demographic headwinds in education, including Census Bureau projections of significant declines in school-age population cohorts over the next decade.

Declining: Traditional offices and manufacturing. Net of data center spending, office construction spending is projected to decline in the double-digit range both this year and next, driven by a national vacancy rate of 20.5%. Manufacturing spending is expected to decline about 4% in 2026 after several years of extraordinary growth.

Tariff policy is adding further uncertainty. Steel prices are up 13%, aluminum is up 23%, and copper products have increased 4.9% year-over-year. The AGC/Sage survey found that 16% of firms have had at least one project postponed, canceled, or scaled back because of tariffs, while 41% have raised prices in response.

For workforce planning purposes, the key implication is this: even modest overall spending growth, combined with accelerating retirements, immigration constraints, and the gravitational pull of data center projects, sustains intense competition for skilled construction labor. The firms competing for workers in 2026 are not only competing with each other, they are competing with every other sector that needs electricians, welders, and project managers.

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10. What Construction Firms Expect Next

45% Of firms report project delays caused by workforce shortages

Construction firms enter 2026 with what the AGC/Sage 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook describes as “dampened” expectations cautious but not pessimistic, with significant variation by sector and region. There are signs that the most acute phase of the shortage may be stabilizing in some respects: ABC’s projected need for 349,000 new workers in 2026 is down from 439,000 in 2025 and over 500,000 in each of the two prior years, driven partly by modest spending growth forecasts. But as ABC cautions, this is not a signal to relax, spending is projected to reaccelerate in 2027, and the structural drivers of labor scarcity (retirements, immigration, low career interest) remain firmly in place.

The survey found that 63% of firms plan to increase headcount in 2026, yet more than 80% struggle to find qualified workers. Expectations are highest for data center and power facility projects, while traditional commercial and residential segments face softer demand.

Workforce shortages are the leading cause of project disruption. The AGC 2025 Workforce Survey found that 45% of firms experienced project delays specifically due to shortages of their own or subcontractors’ workers, and 78% had at least one delayed project in the past twelve months. Roughly two-thirds of firms reported at least one project postponed, scaled back, or canceled in the past six months, with uncertain or reduced funding and labor constraints as primary reasons.

Firms are not standing still. According to the AGC survey, 42% have initiated or increased spending on training and professional development to address shortages. Fifty-five percent have added online strategies such as social media and targeted digital advertising to reach younger applicants, and 52% have engaged with career-building programs at high schools, colleges, or career and technical education institutions.

Contractor backlogs provide a forward signal. ABC reported average backlogs of 8.1 months in November 2025, the lowest reading since the pandemic, suggesting that while firms have work, the pipeline ahead is thinner than in recent years.

Immigration policy remains what ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu calls a “potential wildcard for the industry’s labor force dynamics.” The full impact of reduced immigration flows on the construction workforce is still unfolding, but the direction is clear: a traditional source of labor is constrained, and domestic replacement is not keeping pace.

The prevailing industry mindset has shifted from aggressive expansion to careful optimization, finding ways to deliver more with constrained labor resources, invest strategically in the workers they have, and build flexibility into staffing models.

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11. Future Workforce Outlook (2026 and Beyond)

Construction workforce challenges are structural rather than cyclical. Even if hiring slows temporarily or spending softens in certain sectors, labor availability, skills alignment, demographic pressures, and policy constraints will continue to shape workforce decisions for years to come.

The numbers are stark. ABC projects the industry will need 456,000 new workers in 2027, up from 349,000 in 2026. Deloitte estimates a potential shortage of over two million skilled craft professionals by 2028 if current trends persist. Meanwhile, interest in construction careers remains low, with only 7% of potential job seekers considering the field.

As detailed in Section 3, the demographic picture is the most urgent pressure — with 41% of the current workforce projected to retire by 2031 and only 10% under 25, replacement pipelines cannot keep pace. As BlackRock noted in a January 2026 analysis, reported by Fortune, “the crunch time for recruiting and training the skilled workers of the future is now — before that knowledge retires.”

Technology is augmenting, not replacing, the construction workforce. Deloitte’s 2026 E&C Outlook describes an industry moving toward AI-driven analytics, autonomous equipment, robotics, and prefabrication, tools that reduce labor requirements per unit of output but simultaneously increase demand for digitally skilled workers such as data scientists, digital engineers, and specialists capable of managing AI-driven workflows. Skilled trades employment is projected to grow 5.3% from 2024 to 2034, well above the 3.1% overall rate, with electricians at 9.5% and HVAC technicians at 8.1%.

For firms navigating this environment, Deloitte recommends an adaptive workforce strategy:

• Build critical skills internally through apprenticeship, craft training, and upskilling programs
• Buy specialized expertise through direct hire when specific skill sets are needed immediately
• Borrow flexible labor through contract staffing to manage project-based volatility and demand surges

This framework reflects a reality that no single approach to workforce development will be sufficient. Firms that combine internal development, targeted recruitment, and flexible staffing while investing in safety, technology, and total compensation will be best positioned to deliver projects on time through 2026 and beyond.

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What This Means for Construction Leaders

• Plan for total compensation, not wage pressure alone — construction’s benefits share (30.4%) lags manufacturing (~33%), and that gap becomes a retention risk when workers feel confident enough to move
• Treat vacancies as a project delivery risk, not just an HR metric — 45% of firms report delays directly caused by labor shortages
• Target overtime and fatigue hotspots to reduce both safety incidents and turnover — understaffed crews compound injury risk on every jobsite
• Invest in apprenticeship and skills development now — the demographic cliff is approaching and replacement pipelines take years to build
• Use workforce flexibility as a competitive advantage, not a last resort — project-based staffing models can protect schedules when the labor market won’t cooperate
• Account for inter-sector labor competition — data center and energy projects are pulling the best-skilled trades workers toward higher-paying opportunities

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Key Takeaways for Construction Leaders

• Construction workforce challenges are structural, not temporary
• Retirement is now the primary driver of new-worker demand
• Skills shortages outweigh pure headcount shortages
• Total labor costs are rising faster than productivity gains
• Immigration policy and enforcement materially affect labor supply
• Data center and energy construction are intensifying competition for skilled trades
• Technology is reshaping work, not eliminating workers
• Flexible workforce strategies are becoming a competitive advantage

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Methodology & Sources

This report consolidates publicly available government data and industry research to provide a comprehensive view of the U.S. construction workforce.

The report was compiled in February 2026 using the latest available data, with most federal labor market series current through December 2025–January 2026. January 2026 figures are preliminary and subject to BLS revision.

Scope

• Industry: NAICS 23 (Construction)
• Geography: United States
• Workforce: All employees, with emphasis on production and nonsupervisory roles

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Primary Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Official U.S. government labor market data used for employment, wages, benefits, safety, and productivity metrics throughout this report.

Construction sector overview (NAICS 23): https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag23.htm

The following BLS programs and datasets were referenced via the construction overview and associated series:

• Current Employment Statistics (CES): employment levels, average hourly earnings, average weekly hours
• Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS): job openings, hires, and separations
• Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS): occupation-level wage data
• Current Population Survey (CPS): unemployment rates for workers previously employed in construction, union membership and representation, weekly earnings by union status
• National Compensation Survey (NCS): benefit incidence and access
• Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC): total compensation, benefit cost shares, compensation cost trends
• Employment Cost Index (ECI): year-over-year compensation changes
• Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII / IIF): nonfatal injury and illness rates
• Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI): fatalities
• Productivity and Costs Program: output per hour, total factor productivity, combined inputs
• Business Employment Dynamics (BED): gross job gains and losses
• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): establishment counts

Note: All BLS data referenced are publicly available federal datasets accessible through the construction sector overview page and linked series. October 2025 unemployment data was unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

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Associated General Contractors of America (AGC)

Industry sentiment, hiring expectations, workforce constraints, and project impact data reported directly by U.S. construction firms.

• 2025 Workforce Survey (conducted with NCCER, July–August 2025) https://www.agc.org/news/2025/08/28/construction-workforce-shortages-are-leading-cause-project-delays-immigration-enforcement-affects
• 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook (with Sage, January 2026)
  https://www.sage.com/en-us/blog/2026-construction-industry-outlook/

These sources were used to inform: firm-level hiring difficulty rates, project delay impacts, vacancy and qualification data, immigration enforcement impacts, training and recruiting investment trends, tariff impacts on projects, and forward-looking hiring expectations.

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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)

Workforce demand projections, construction spending analysis, and backlog data.

• 2026 Construction Workforce Shortage Analysis (January 2026) https://www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/abc-construction-industry-must-attract-349000-workers-in-2026-despite-macroeconomic-headwinds

This source was used to inform: net new worker demand projections for 2026 and 2027, the relationship between construction spending and job creation, retirement-driven demand estimates, and contractor backlog data.

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American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Macroeconomic context, construction spending forecasts, and sector-level outlook.

• January 2026 Consensus Construction Forecast
  https://www.aia.org/resource-center/consensus-construction-forecast/january-2026

This source was used to frame the Construction Spending and Sector Outlook section, including: nonresidential building spending projections, sector-by-sector performance (data centers, healthcare, offices, manufacturing, education), immigration and labor force composition data, and tariff/interest rate impacts on construction activity.

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Deloitte Research Center for Energy & Industrials

Forward-looking workforce, technology, and industry insights used to contextualize long-term construction labor trends.

• 2026 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook (November 2025)
  https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/engineering-and-construction/engineering-and-construction-industry-outlook.html

This source was used to frame the Future Workforce Outlook section, particularly in areas related to: workforce demand projections and retirement timelines, skills-based labor shortages and career interest data, technology adoption (AI, BIM, prefabrication, robotics), digital transformation and data governance, tariff and supply chain impacts, and the Build, Buy, or Borrow workforce strategy framework.

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Additional Sources Referenced

• BlackRock — Skilled trades employment growth projections (January 2026), as reported by Fortune
• Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) — Union settlement data (2025), as reported by Construction Citizen / AGC Data DIGest
• Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) — January 2026 jobs report analysis, via Construction Equipment Guide

Injury and fatality statistics reflect the most recent finalized SOII and CFOI releases available at the time of compilation.