by Olevia Sharbaugh Starkey, Economist at Dodge Construction Network
The Bureau of Labor Statistics posted yet another Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey that shows very little change from the previous month. Dropping only 0.6% from the revised estimate for May, June’s total US job openings came in at 8.18 million. Though this is a small decline from last month, it represents a 10% decline from June of last year, indicating that the labor market continues to soften. The industries with the greatest increases in openings for the month were accommodation and food services and state and local government (excluding education). At the same time, those with the largest declines were durable goods manufacturing and the federal government.
After a substantial upward revision to the May estimate, job openings for the construction industry came in 19% lower in June than the month before. While it was previously estimated that job openings in the construction sector increased by only 2,000 to 339,000 in May, the revised estimate revealed that the increase was much greater, bringing the total openings for the construction sector to 366,000. With this higher estimate, the weakness in June appears more exaggerated as it comes in at only 295,000 (a decline of 71,000 openings from last month). If this estimate proves true after next month’s revisions, this will be the lowest number of job openings since March of last year. Though this month alone may appear concerning, it is important to note that this measure has a tendency to fluctuate from month to month. Still, the average number of job openings for the construction sector through the first half of 2024 remains 4% higher than the average during the same period of 2023.
Make sure to keep following along with @dodge-construction-network to see how this will affect construction starts in the future.
Data Source: https://www.bls.gov/jlt/