Construction Jobs Up in 38 States Year-Over-Year

AGC’s analysis of federal employment data shows construction jobs increased in 38 states between January 2025 and January 2026, with 40 states and D.C. adding jobs in the single month between December and January. The release covers both year-over-year and month-over-month trends by state, giving contractors a geographic read on where the labor market is tightening or loosening. AGC officials used the data to push back on federal workforce and immigration policy headwinds they say threaten continued growth.

The state-level breakdown is what estimators should actually pull. National job growth numbers are noise. What matters is whether your market is one of the 38 gaining states or one of the 12 where the workforce contracted year-over-year. In a tightening labor market, subs are choosing their bids more carefully, and the ones who are busy don’t need your project. That calculus hits trade coverage directly: fewer competitive bids, later submissions, more single-sub scopes going into your number. If you’re in a growth market, build the labor escalation assumption in now. The AGC construction data page has the state-level detail worth bookmarking.

Read the full story at AGC News.