The count of open, unfilled positions in the construction industry held steady amid a slowdown for housing, per the May Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
The number of open jobs for the overall economy increased slightly from 7.40 million in April to 7.77 million in May. This is smaller than the 7.90 million estimate reported a year ago and reflects a softened aggregate labor market. However, the May estimate was a stronger number than expected and runs counter to some other, recent negative reporting of labor market data.
Previous NAHB analysis indicated that this number had to fall below 8 million on a sustained basis for the Federal Reserve to move forward on interest rate reductions. With estimates remaining below 8 million for national job openings, the Fed, in theory, should be able to cut further despite a recent pause. There is growing pressure on the Fed to do so.
The number of open construction sector jobs was effectively unchanged from a revised 242,000 in April to 245,000 in May. This nonetheless marks a significant reduction of open, unfilled construction jobs than that registered a year ago (375,000) due to a slowing of construction/housing activity. The chart below notes the recent decline for the construction job openings rate, which is now near the lows of 2019.

The construction job openings rate was steady at 2.8% in May, although significantly lower year-over-year from 4.4%.
The layoff rate in construction held at 2% in May. The quits rate increased on a monthly basis to 2.3%, the same as a year ago.
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The name of Trump’s game is uncertainty, because he does not know what he’s doing next, or even what he should be doing next. Large scale investors are holding back, or pushing their resources to Europe, along with their guiding lights to protect and educate the new markets over there. American markets will continue to dry up, maybe evaporate, maybe get “obliterated.” And China’s real estate market, residential and commercial, although down now, will begin to show some life very soon.
Save yer money…we all know what’s coming.