The construction industry added 26,000 jobs from February (8,304,000) to March (8,330,000), according to the Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Industry employment increased by 57,000 jobs year-over-year in March, a 0.7% increase.
Residential construction jobs went up from 3,286,300 in February to 3,300,600 in March, a 14,300 difference. Year-over-year, residential jobs were down 29,300, a 0.9% decrease.
The construction industry unemployment rate decreased from 6.9% in February to 6.7% in March, while the rate for all private industries went from 4.4% to 4.3%. The unemployment rate for both the construction industry and all private industries were up year-over-year, at 1.3 and 0.1 percentage points respectively.
Even with the increase in jobs, “there remains cause for concern about the industry’s outlook,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said. “The March jobs data do not capture the detrimental ways in which the conflict in Iran will continue to affect the construction industry. Oil prices have risen to heights not seen since 2022 and diesel prices have soared to $5.40 per gallon, up more than $1.90 per gallon from the start of 2026. At the same time, higher treasury yields have put renewed pressure on borrowing costs.
“While contractors were relatively optimistic about the near-term outlook as of February, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, it remains to be seen how long that optimism can persist under current economic conditions,” Basu added.
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