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The construction industry lost 11,000 net jobs in December and gained just 14,000 positions over the course of 2025, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.
Nonresidential construction employment dropped by 7,800 net jobs last month. The heavy and civil engineering sector gained 2,300 jobs, but that growth was offset by 8,900 jobs lost in nonresidential specialty trade and 1,200 jobs lost in nonresidential building, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of BLS data.
Even though job gains outpaced losses in 2025, last year’s numbers reflected the worst 12-month performance since 2011, excluding the first year of the pandemic, according to the analysis.
The unemployment rate for the construction industry was 5% in December. It likely would have been higher if not for a reduction in available workers in the labor force, ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said in a press release.
“This unusual dynamic — decreasing employment but a steady unemployment rate — likely reflects the effects of immigration policy on the industry’s workforce,” Basu said.
Earlier this month, Associated General Contractors of America Chief Economist Ken Simonson said “soaring demand” for data centers and related infrastructure was partly a reason that 32 states gained construction jobs through November, but another 26 shed net construction jobs, The Mecklenburg Times reported.
“Uncertainty over tariffs and other policy shifts is causing many owners elsewhere to hold back on projects, leading contractors to trim their headcount,” Simonson said.
Construction employment was part of a mixed bag of employment results for the U.S. labor market in 2025. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 50,000 in December, an increase that fell short of investor expectations by 23,000 jobs, CNBC reported. However, unemployment fell to 4.4%, 10 basis points better than predicted.
November’s employment numbers were revised downward by 8,000 jobs to 56,000 gained, while October’s job losses were revised from 105,000 to 173,000, according to CNBC.
Overall, the U.S. employment picture was bleaker in 2025 than in 2024. Payrolls gained an average of 49,000 jobs per month in 2025, down from 168,000 per month a year prior, CNBC reported.
“It’s fair to say that 2025 was a hiring recession in the United States,” Heather Long, the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a report, according to CNBC. “The United States is experiencing a jobless boom where growth is strong, but hiring is not. It’s a great scenario for Wall Street, but an uneasy feeling on Main Street.”
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