US construction trade group calls July job growth ‘anemic’

Image courtesy Associated Builders and Contractors

Year on year, the industry added 96,000 jobs – a 1.2% increase – but ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said the pace resembles patterns typically seen during or just after a recession.

“The construction industry has added just 7,000 jobs over the past four months,” Basu said. “Industrywide employment is up only 1.2% over the past year, a lackluster pace of growth that historically is seen during and immediately following recessions.”

July’s limited gains were concentrated in the non-residential sector, which added 6,400 jobs overall. Heavy and civil engineering led with 6,000 new positions, followed by a 1,900-job increase in non-residential specialty trades. Non-residential building, however, shed 1,500 positions.

Residential job figures were not detailed in the ABC release but were implied to be the weaker segment.

Basu noted that despite the sluggish headline numbers, non-residential construction remains relatively strong. Over the past year, it has grown at twice the rate of the industry overall, supported by steady backlog levels.

Basu added, “It’s possible that weakness will be confined to the residential side of the industry during the second half of 2025.”

The construction unemployment rate held steady at 3.4% in July, while the national jobless rate rose from 4.1% to 4.2%.

US construction heading for slowdown?

Another major trade group, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), echoed concerns about a broader slowdown, reporting that only half of US metro areas added construction jobs between June 2024 and June 2025.

“Construction activity is in a holding pattern in much of the nation,” said AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson, noting that 180 out of 360 tracked metro areas saw year-over-year job gains, about 35 fewer than the prior year.

AGC attributed the stagnation to a mix of elevated interest rates, uncertainty over trade policy, and workforce pressures.

“Uncertainty about tariff rates and labour availability are holding back private sector demand for construction,” said AGC CEO Jeffrey Shoaf, urging the Trump administration to provide greater clarity on trade and refocus immigration enforcement on criminal activity rather than the broader undocumented workforce.

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