The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the May 2026 Employment Situation report on June 5, and the construction sector added 17,000 jobs in the month, bringing total construction employment to a seasonally adjusted 8,337,000 — the highest level in BLS series history. The sector's headline numbers continue to show resilience in a labor market where total nonfarm payrolls grew by 172,000, well above the 88,000 economists expected. The BLS Employment Situation summary noted that construction employment showed little change in most reporting categories, with the May gain continuing a pattern of modest month-to-month increases that have kept the industry near record employment levels since late 2024.

The Headline Masks a Critical Behavioral Shift

The 8.337 million figure is the sector's peak, but the way those workers are being managed tells a different story than the absolute employment total suggests. According to ConstructConnect's June 5, 2026 expert analysis citing BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data, new hires as a percent of the construction workforce are at the lowest level in the 25-year history of the JOLTS survey. Job openings in the construction industry are near record lows. Layoffs are equally low — suggesting that contractors are neither adding workers aggressively nor shedding them. They are in a holding pattern.

Ken Simonson, AGC's chief economist, described the dynamic in direct terms: "Contractors aren't hiring now. They're not even advertising for jobs very much. Nevertheless, they sure want to hang on to the workers who are still there." BLS JOLTS data for April 2026 confirms the picture at the industry level: construction job openings stood at 259,000 in April (a rate of 3.0 percent), up from 234,000 in March but still within the range of relative restraint. Construction hires totaled 323,000 in April with a hire rate of 3.9 percent, and total separations were 295,000 at a rate of 3.5 percent — numbers consistent with a workforce in steady state rather than expansion.

Wages: $41.20 Per Hour and Rising

BLS NAICS 23 construction sector data shows average hourly earnings for all construction employees at $41.20 in May 2026 — up from $41.01 in April and $40.92 in March. Production and nonsupervisory construction employees — the workers who physically build — earned $38.97 per hour in May, up from $38.77 in April. The average workweek held at 39.2 hours in May for all employees and 40.1 hours for production workers, maintaining the sector's above-average hours profile relative to the private sector overall.

These wage levels reflect a labor market in which skilled construction workers have significant bargaining power despite the hiring restraint visible in the JOLTS data. Union settlements averaged 4.7 percent increases in 2025, according to the Construction Labor Research Council — sharply higher than the 1 to 3 percent typical of 2022 to 2023 contracts. Non-union construction firms surveyed by PAS expect further pay increases of 4 to 4.5 percent by end of 2026. The result is a sector where employment is at records, wages are rising at above-inflation rates, and contractors are holding onto experienced workers as a strategic asset rather than cycling through labor as demand rises and falls.

The Unemployment Rate Anomaly

BLS construction sector data shows an unusual pattern in the unemployment rate series: construction unemployment was 6.9 percent in February 2026, 6.7 percent in March, then dropped sharply to 3.8 percent in April before rising modestly to 4.1 percent in May. The February and March figures reflect the seasonal pattern in construction — winter months typically see elevated unemployment as outdoor work slows — followed by the spring employment surge as construction season accelerates. The 4.1 percent rate in May 2026 is notably lower than the same month in recent years, consistent with the near-record employment totals and the pattern of contractors retaining workers across seasonal transitions rather than releasing and rehiring.

For the broader economy, construction's 17,000 May jobs gain sits within a national jobs report that featured striking sector divergence. Leisure and hospitality added 70,000 jobs in May, local government added 55,000, and healthcare added 35,000. Construction's 17,000 gain was solid but unspectacular relative to those sectors — a signal that the industry is maintaining its workforce rather than actively expanding headcount even as project backlogs and demand indicators remain elevated in data center and infrastructure categories.

What the Workforce Freeze Means for the Industry

The combination of peak employment and near-zero hiring activity has a structural implication that industry economists are beginning to emphasize. If contractors are not recruiting new workers — even as project demand in data centers, power infrastructure, and public works remains strong — the supply of skilled trades is not growing proportionally with the work pipeline. ConstructConnect analysts estimate construction labor productivity in the U.S. is running roughly 10 percent below 2019 levels — a post-COVID productivity gap that has not closed despite two years of elevated spending. Adding new workers who lack experience would likely widen that gap rather than close it.

Simonson flagged an additional workforce risk that does not appear directly in the employment data: immigration enforcement. "Construction relies much more heavily than other industries on immigrant workers. So, we're very vulnerable to what happens on deportations and immigration enforcement," he said. In California, Nevada, Texas, Florida, and Maryland, 50 percent or more of construction workers are foreign-born, according to AGC analysis of BLS data. In some northern-border states, the figure is in single digits. The workforce risk from immigration policy is geographically concentrated in the same markets that are receiving the largest shares of data center and infrastructure investment — creating a potential supply constraint at the exact moment demand is most intense.

For the construction industry entering the summer of 2026, the data points converge on a single priority: retain the experienced workforce, invest in productivity, and manage wage cost escalation proactively. The workers who are in the field today are the industry's most critical resource — and the JOLTS data confirms that contractors already know it.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employment Situation Summary, May 2026, released June 5, 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employment Situation News Release, May 2026, full tables
Bureau of Labor Statistics — Construction: NAICS 23, updated June 5, 2026
Bureau of Labor Statistics — JOLTS Table A: Job Openings, Hires, and Separations by Industry, April 2026, released June 2, 2026
ConstructConnect — What Construction Experts Are Warning About the Industry, June 5, 2026