1. NAHB, October 21: Hispanic workers are 32.8% of the construction labor force
In 2024 Hispanic workers made up 32.8% of the construction labor force, against 19.9% across all industries, according to an NAHB analysis of the Census Bureau's American Community Survey published on October 21. Their number grew from 2.5 million in 2010 to nearly 4 million in 2024.
By state the share is highest in New Mexico (65.6%), Texas (61.3%) and California (59.7%), and lowest in Vermont (3%). Texas (812,000), California (780,000) and Florida (426,000) together employ 51% of all Hispanic construction workers in the country.
Why a small contractor should care: in New Mexico, Texas and California more than half of the people you hire, sub to or work beside on a site are Hispanic. Our reading, not NAHB's: for many of them Spanish is the language they work in best, and an owner who explains the job, the safety rules and the schedule only in English or Russian loses time on every misunderstanding, and loses people to the company down the road that explains it in Spanish.
2. AGC, October 20: jobs up in 34 states over the year, but only 25 added jobs last month
Construction employment was higher in September 2026 than a year earlier in 34 states and D.C., AGC reported from federal data. But from August to September only 25 states added construction jobs and 21 lost them. Over the year Louisiana gained the most (+18,800, +13.9%); Georgia (-4,900) and California (-4,800) lost the most. In the latest month Wisconsin (-3,300), Ohio (-3,100), Texas (-2,400) and California (-1,900) lost the most.
AGC chief executive Jeffrey Shoaf said "politics and prices are having an impact on demand for construction in parts of the country", naming material prices, tariffs and an unresolved federal transportation bill.
Why it matters: where construction jobs are falling, more crews will chase the same remodel and repair work; where they are growing, good people are harder to hire and keep.
What to do this week
- 01Ask each person on your crew and each sub which language they read best, and write it down next to their name.
- 02Give the job instructions, the scope and the safety rules for each site in that language, in writing, not only by voice on the phone.
- 03Look up your own state in the AGC table. If construction jobs fell there, plan for more competition on price; if they grew, talk to your best people about pay before someone else does.
Where WorkTime CRM helps with this
Add a worker in a project's Team → Crew tab (open the job from Projects) and send him his personal check-in link. He needs no account and no password, sees only his own jobs, and switches the page to English, Russian or Spanish in the header.
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