Construction Job Openings and Quits: 25 Years of Federal Turnover Data

What the turnover record shows

The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey has tracked construction separately since 2001. It records not just openings but hires, quits and layoffs, which together describe whether a labour shortage is a hiring problem, a retention problem, or neither.

For construction the answer has changed completely twice in 25 years.

Selected years

Figures are annual averages in thousands. Openings rate is openings as a percent of employment plus openings.

Source: BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, construction (NAICS 23), annual averages of complete years. The full 2001 to 2025 series is in the CSV.

The evidence

1. Peak openings: 399,000 in 2022. Source: BLS JOLTS, construction.
2. Trough openings: 55,000 in 2009. Source: BLS JOLTS, construction.
3. Ratio between peak and trough: 7.2 times. Source: calculated from BLS JOLTS.
4. Openings in 2025: 240,000, down 40.0 percent from the 2022 peak. Source: BLS JOLTS.
5. Openings rate: 0.9 in 2009, 4.9 in 2022, 2.8 in 2025. Source: BLS JOLTS.
6. Peak layoffs and discharges: 323,000 in 2009. Source: BLS JOLTS.
7. Hires in 2009: 321,000. Layoffs exceeded hires that year, the only such year in the 25-year series. Source: BLS JOLTS.
8. Peak quits: 198,000 in 2005. Source: BLS JOLTS.
9. Quits in 2009: 76,000, the series low, a fall of 62 percent from the 2005 peak. Source: calculated from BLS JOLTS.
10. Lowest layoffs in the series: 144,000 in 2022, the same year openings peaked. Source: BLS JOLTS.
11. Hires have fallen in every year since 2020, from 417,000 to 332,000 in 2025. Source: BLS JOLTS.
12. Plumbing and HVAC contractor employment reached 1,317,200 in 2025. Source: BLS CES, series CEU2023822001.
13. Projected annual openings in the plumber occupation: about 42,000. Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.

What the numbers imply

2009 is the only year construction shed more than it took on

Formula. Compare annual layoffs and discharges against annual hires, every year in the series.

Calculation. In 2009 layoffs were 323,000 and hires 321,000. In every other year from 2001 to 2025 hires exceeded layoffs.

Finding. 2009 is the single year in a quarter century where construction discharged more workers than it hired. It is also the year quits hit a series low of 76,000, because workers do not leave voluntarily when there is nowhere to go. The two together describe a frozen labour market rather than a slow one.

Limitations. The margin is 2,000 on figures reported in thousands, which is within the survey’s sampling error. The finding should be read as “layoffs and hires were equal in 2009”, which is itself unique in the series, rather than as a precise ordering.

Openings and layoffs are mirror images, and 2022 was the extreme

Formula. Compare the year of peak openings against the year of minimum layoffs.

Calculation. Openings peaked at 399,000 in 2022. Layoffs bottomed at 144,000 in the same year.

Finding. 2022 was simultaneously the hardest year to fill a construction role and the safest year to hold one. That combination, maximum demand and minimum discharge in the same year, is the clearest statistical signature of a labour shortage in the series.

Limitations. A high openings rate can reflect unfilled demand or it can reflect employers posting roles they are not urgently filling. JOLTS counts posted openings on the last business day of the month and does not measure urgency.

The shortage is easing on every measure

Formula. Direction of change in openings, openings rate and hires since 2022.

Calculation. Openings fell from 399,000 to 240,000, down 40.0 percent. The openings rate fell from 4.9 to 2.8. Hires fell from 369,000 to 332,000.

Finding. The 2025 openings rate of 2.8 is close to the 2001 level of 2.6 and well below the 2019 pre-pandemic reading of 4.1. On this measure the construction labour shortage has substantially unwound, though layoffs at 173,000 remain well below the 2009 level.

Limitations. Falling openings can mean demand has eased or that roles have been filled. This data cannot distinguish the two. It also covers all construction, not plumbing specifically, and no JOLTS series exists at the NAICS 238220 level.

Download the data

All eight JOLTS construction series, 2001 to 2025 annual averages, published as a CSV under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Attribution: The Plumbing Brief.

Construction openings, hires, quits and layoffs, 2001 to 2025 (CSV)

How this report was built

Methodology

Source. BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, construction sector (NAICS 23), series prefix JTS230000000000000 with suffixes JOL, HIL, QUL, TSL, LDL, JOR, QUR and HIR, retrieved through the BLS public API on 3 October 2026.

Annual figures. Mean of twelve published monthly values. Years with fewer than twelve months are excluded. The series begins in 2001.

Level of detail. JOLTS publishes construction as a single sector. No plumbing-specific JOLTS series exists, so every figure on this page covers all construction, including residential and commercial building, heavy and civil engineering, and all specialty trades.

Derived figures. Peak-to-trough ratios, percentage changes and the layoffs-against-hires comparison are calculated by this publication.

Retrieval date. 3 October 2026.

Data limitations

• This is all construction, not plumbing. No JOLTS series exists at the plumbing contractor level, so the trade’s own turnover cannot be isolated.
• JOLTS is a survey with sampling error. Differences of a few thousand on figures reported in thousands are not meaningful.
• Openings are counted on the last business day of the month and measure posted positions, not urgency or recruitment effort.
• Annual averages smooth within-year volatility, which is substantial in a seasonal sector.
• Falling openings are consistent with both easing demand and successful hiring. This data cannot separate them.
• The series begins in 2001, so it does not cover the 1990 or 2001 recessions in full.

Source quality ranking

Tier 1. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics and Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Tier 2. None used. Tier 3. None used.

Excluded. Job-board posting counts, which measure advertising rather than vacancies, and trade association shortage estimates that do not publish a method.

If you quote one number

• Construction job openings swung 7.2 times between 2009 and 2022, from 55,000 to 399,000.
• In 2009 construction discharged 323,000 workers and hired 321,000, the only such year in 25.
• 2022 was both the peak for openings and the low for layoffs, the clearest shortage signature in the series.
• Openings are down 40 percent from the 2022 peak and the openings rate is back near 2001 levels.
• Construction quits fell 62 percent between 2005 and 2009. Nobody leaves when there is nowhere to go.

Summary for reporters

Construction job openings peaked at an annual average of 399,000 in 2022 and bottomed at 55,000 in 2009, a swing of 7.2 times, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Openings stood at 240,000 in 2025, down 40.0 percent from the peak, with the openings rate falling from 4.9 to 2.8, close to the 2.6 recorded in 2001. The 2009 figures are the most extreme in the 25-year record: layoffs and discharges reached 323,000 against 321,000 hires, the only year in the series where discharges matched or exceeded hiring, while quits fell to a series low of 76,000, down 62 percent from the 2005 peak. 2022 was the mirror image, combining peak openings with the lowest layoffs in the series at 144,000. JOLTS publishes construction as a single sector and no plumbing-specific series exists.

Angles this supports

1. In 2009 construction laid off more workers than it hired, the only year in 25
2. Construction job openings have fallen 40 percent since 2022
3. The openings rate is back to where it was in 2001
4. 2022 was the hardest year to hire and the safest year to be employed
5. Construction quits collapsed 62 percent into the financial crisis

Questions this answers

How many construction job openings are there? An annual average of 240,000 in 2025, down from a peak of 399,000 in 2022.

Is the construction labour shortage over? It has substantially eased on these measures. The openings rate fell from 4.9 in 2022 to 2.8 in 2025, close to the 2.6 recorded in 2001 and well below 4.1 in 2019.

What was the worst year for construction employment? 2009, when layoffs reached 323,000 against 321,000 hires and openings fell to 55,000, all series extremes.

How many construction workers quit each year? 145,000 in 2025. The peak was 198,000 in 2005 and the low was 76,000 in 2009.

Why did quits fall during the recession? Voluntary departures collapse when there is nowhere to move to. Quits fell 62 percent between 2005 and 2009 while layoffs rose.

When was it hardest to hire in construction? 2022, with 399,000 openings and an openings rate of 4.9, alongside the lowest layoffs in the series at 144,000.

Does this cover plumbing specifically? No. JOLTS publishes construction as one sector and no plumbing contractor series exists. Every figure here covers all construction.

How many plumber openings are projected? About 42,000 a year in the plumber, pipefitter and steamfitter occupation, per the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. That is a projection from a different programme, not a JOLTS measurement.

Do falling openings mean less work? Not necessarily. Openings can fall because demand eased or because roles were filled, and this data cannot distinguish the two.

What is an openings rate? Openings as a percentage of employment plus openings. It allows comparison across periods when the size of the workforce has changed.

How to cite this report

The Plumbing Brief, “Construction Job Openings and Quits: 25 Years of Federal Turnover Data”, https://theplumbingbrief.com/construction-job-openings-and-quits/, accessed [date].

Last reviewed: 2026-10-03.