USD/BTC = $73,150
Block 975,319
Construction employment stalled in October, with the total at 8,367,000. That was 3,000 fewer than the upwardly revised September figure, but 124,000 higher than a year earlier, a 1.5 percent gain. That year over year gain far outpaced the 0.6 percent increase in total nonfarm payroll employment since October 2025.
Nonresidential contractors did all of the hiring. They added 13,300 employees for the month and 164,600 over the past year, a 3.3 percent gain. Residential builders and subcontractors went the other way, down 16,400 workers in October and 40,200 over 12 months. Every nonresidential category added jobs in the month: building firms added 2,900, specialty trade contractors added 7,900, and heavy and civil engineering added 2,500.
Pay keeps climbing faster than the rest of the economy. Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory construction workers reached 54.3K sats ($39.70) in October, 21.2 percent above the 44.8K sats ($32.75) average for all private sector production workers. Construction pay rose 5.2 percent over the past year, against a 3.3 percent gain for production workers overall.
The pool of available workers is the real story. Only 363,000 people with recent construction experience were actively looking for work, the lowest October figure since 2018. The unemployment rate among those jobseekers fell to 3.6 percent, tying the 2018 rate as the lowest for October in the 27 year history of the series. That is why contractors cannot fill open positions even while raising pay.
The Associated General Contractors of America is pressing policy makers to act: more funding for career building education and training, a way for contractors to sponsor qualified workers from outside the US, and a new highway and transit funding bill before federal money runs out in December.
My Thoughts ðŸ’
Construction labor is tight thus the wage increases but the residential sector is shrinking! Can’t compete in this age of AI and infrastructure construction plus with mortgage rates being high causing a freeze in overall movement.
Unless something breaks I don’t see construction getting cheaper any time soon.
Residential also has to deal with the huge glut of homes on the market already.
Headwinds a plenty but some of the home building stocks are up
Investors must think future cash flows look promising. With both paying dividends that are under 1%
new labor supply and product demand incoming!
Man, fuck If I know. This economy has been so confusing.