Nonresidential construction employment increased by 126,400 jobs from July 2025 to July 2026, a gain of 2.6%, according to AGC’s analysis of federal employment data. The increase was much stronger than the industry’s overall 1.0% job growth.
What the Numbers Show
The difference comes from a split between markets. Nonresidential contractors continued to add workers for data centers, manufacturing, utilities, infrastructure and other commercial and industrial work. Residential construction employment declined over the same period.
Why the Market Is Moving
July reinforced the pattern. Nonresidential firms added 20,000 jobs in one month. Specialty trade contractors accounted for 15,400 of those positions, while nonresidential building contractors added 4,200 and heavy and civil engineering added 400.
What It Means for Contractors
The strength of nonresidential hiring does not mean every private building sector is expanding. ABC has noted that data center spending is unusually strong while some other private nonresidential categories have weakened. A relatively small group of very large projects can therefore support substantial hiring.
What It Means for Workers
For electrical construction, the mix is favorable because many of the strongest categories are electrical intensive. Data centers, advanced manufacturing plants and utility projects require large amounts of distribution equipment, controls and power infrastructure.
The Bigger Employment Picture
The 2.6% gain also affects recruiting outside those megaprojects. A contractor serving hospitals, offices or schools may lose experienced employees to data center or industrial projects offering overtime and long backlogs. Labor competition spreads beyond the projects creating the original demand.
What to Watch Next
Nonresidential employment growth is therefore both a positive economic signal and a warning about capacity. Contractors with strong backlogs need to know whether their workforce can expand at the same pace as the opportunities they are pursuing.
Why This Matters Now
Construction employment data can change quickly, so the best view comes from several measures at once. Payroll growth shows whether companies are adding people. Job openings show how many positions employers are still trying to fill. Unemployment shows how many experienced workers may be immediately available. Wage growth shows how hard employers are competing for labor. When several of those measures point in the same direction, the trend is more meaningful than a single monthly number.
Why Specialty Trades Can Grow Faster Than Building Employment
A project can move through months of foundations and structure before the largest specialty-trade crews arrive. Electrical and mechanical employment often rises later, when buildings need distribution systems, controls, equipment connections and commissioning. That timing can cause specialty-trade payrolls to grow even when the number of new building starts is not accelerating at the same pace.
The Staffing Bottleneck Moves Up the Organization
Adding field workers is only part of growth. Larger crews require more foremen, general foremen, project managers, safety staff and estimators. Those roles usually come from people with years of experience. Contractors that expand quickly can therefore run into a management shortage even when they are able to hire apprentices and journeymen. Developing supervisors becomes part of the labor strategy.
Reading the Trend Carefully
Monthly employment reports are estimates and are revised as more information becomes available. They are most useful for identifying direction and scale rather than predicting the exact number of people a contractor can hire in one city. Project starts, completions and seasonal patterns can move the numbers from month to month. For that reason, contractors should combine public data with current bid activity, backlog and their own recruiting results before changing a workforce plan.
Source: Construction Citizen / AGC Data DIGest. This is an original iBidElectric news summary based on current publicly available employment reporting.
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