1. October: residential trades down 15,200 in one month
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 6 that construction employment was 8,367,000 in October (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), 3,000 less than September. Residential specialty trade contractors, the plumbers, electricians, roofers, framers and finish trades who work on homes, fell by 15,200 to 2,332,400. Residential building companies fell by 1,200. Nonresidential trade contractors added 7,900 and nonresidential builders 2,900.
AGC, the general contractors' association, adds it up: residential builders and subcontractors lost 16,400 jobs in October and 40,200 (1.2%) over twelve months, while construction overall is 124,000 jobs (1.5%) above a year ago. The October numbers are preliminary and BLS revises them in the next two reports.
Why a small contractor should care: fewer jobs in home trades usually follow slower remodeling and building, which matches the drop in residential spending reported on November 2. The people leaving home work are going somewhere, and much of the growth is on commercial sites.
2. Pay up 5.2%, and few people looking for work
Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers in construction reached $39.70 in October, up from $37.74 a year earlier, about 5.2%. For all private-sector production workers the figure is $32.75, up about 3.3%. These are BLS numbers; AGC reports the same percentages.
BLS also counts 363,000 unemployed people whose last job was in construction, and a construction unemployment rate of 3.6% (not seasonally adjusted). AGC calls that the lowest October count since 2018. BLS has no October 2025 figure to compare with, because that month was not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Why it matters: a residential company with less work is competing for the same electricians and carpenters as commercial contractors who are hiring and raising pay. A good helper who is not busy with you this winter may be gone by spring.
What to do this week
Write down the three or four people you could not run a job without, crew or subs, and talk to each one about the next two months: what work you have, when, and what they need to stay. If work is thin, line up a sub or two you can call for the busy weeks instead of carrying idle payroll. Pay, 1099 or W-2 status and benefits are questions for your accountant; we do not give a number.
Where WorkTime CRM helps with this
Every sub you have ever sent a job to stays in Subs → My partners, and a sub's profile shows their license, insurance, crew size and the date they are free, so the list of people to call is already written. When you need to hire, Hiring shows job seekers' applications in your state.
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