After an accelerated pace of layoffs in March and April, construction sector hiring roared back in May, per data from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

In May, the hiring rate increased to 9.6%, after a subdued 3.7% rate in April. This was the strongest rate of hiring in the history of the JOLTS data.

The increase in hiring also lifted the open jobs rate to 4.9% in May, with a 365,000 total of open construction sector jobs. The open job count was just 247,000 in April. While growing, the current total represents a year-over-year decline compared to 373,000 in May 2019.