Construction industry leaders were optimistic in August, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Two of the three components of ABC’s Construction Confidence Index rose for the month, and all three components remained above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth during the next six months.
In August, ABC’s Construction Confidence Index increased from 52.7 to 52.9 for profit margin expectations and from 61.2 to 62 for sales expectations. The index fell from 62.3 to 59.5 for staffing levels.
Additionally, ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator rose from 8 months in July to 8.5 months in August and was unchanged compared with August 2025.
“Backlog rebounded from July’s cyclical low but remains below the prevailing level from the last several months,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Data centers continue to keep contractors busy even as activity softens in other segments. Although the backlog gap between contractors with and without data center work narrowed in August (9.9 vs. 8.3 months, respectively), that appears to reflect more contractors securing work in the data center segment rather than a broader structural trend. Roughly 1 in 6 ABC members is currently under contract to work on a data center, the highest proportion on record.
“The share of contractors that intend to cut their staffing levels over the next six months rose to 12.3% in August, the most in any month since December,” Basu continued. “At the same time, there was a sharp increase in the number of contractors who, unprompted, mentioned labor shortages in the survey. With construction job openings at a near two-year high, it appears that labor scarcity is reemerging as a major headwind for the industry.”
