An Indeed study of Bureau of Labor Statistics data from April 2018 through June 2018 shows there were nearly two openings for every job seeker in the construction industry, according to www.finance.yahoo.com.
Nick Bunker, an economist with Indeed's Hiring Lab, attributes the job vacancies to the Great Recession, saying the 2008 financial crisis "was a huge shock to the [construction] industry, and they're still dealing with the ramifications from it."
Between 2007 and 2011, the construction industry lost more than 2.2 million jobs. Bunker says the unemployed-to-vacancy ratios sharply increased during that time, and although they have since recovered, the industry has had to continue to compensate for it.
The construction industry's labor shortage has become a well-known struggle; there were about 190,000 new construction workers in 2017, which was significantly less than the three-year average of 284,000 annual additions.
The Sept. 7 jobs report indicated an additional 23,000 construction jobs were added, bringing the total to 297,000 for the year.
"The job market is hot," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, in the ADP National Employment Report. "Employers are aggressively competing to hold onto their existing workers and to find new ones. Small businesses are struggling the most in this competition, as they increasingly can't fill open positions."
