Report: Construction Needs 439K New Workers
The United States construction industry and its contractors are facing several headwinds in 2025, not the least of which is the growing demand to fill current and future vacancies in its workforce. According to a research model from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the problem could stretch into upcoming years.
According to the report, the construction industry will need 439,000 net new workers in 2025, and by 2026 the number is expected to grow to 499,000 new workers.
Anirban Basu, Chief Economist at ABC, said if the industry is unable to hire these workers, “industrywide labor cost escalation will accelerate, exacerbating already high construction costs and reducing the volume of work that is financially feasible.”
Basu also indicated that the model may even be “overly conservative,” meaning worker shortages could be more severe than the model is predicting.
The numbers provide both a warning and an opportunity. The workforce gap is not a new problem. The industry has been trying to address the issue for the past several years. The continued high rate of open positions has been affected by an aging workforce leaving for retirement. Added to that may be the effect potential changes to immigration policy could have on worker availability.
There are positive signs that can be gleaned from ABC’s report analysis — Michael Bellaman, ABC President and CEO, noted the increased efforts by the industry to hire new workers to replace retirees.
“That is fantastic news, but we still have a long way to go to shore up the talent pipeline,” said Bellaman.
Another positive that can be pointed to are the relationships being forged between organizations like the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and career technical education (CTE) programs, community colleges and workforce development operations in communities across the country. These partnerships provide valuable options for workers to enter the construction workforce.
In order to meet the growing need for workforce expansion, construction education foundations like NCCER can help support the training and upskilling of craft professionals. Through training resources and recruitment initiatives, NCCER is helping build a much-needed pipeline of talent to the construction industry.
Click here to learn how NCCER can help contractors with workforce development solutions.