June 2026 construction job openings remain historically high, and the signal is clear: demand for qualified workers continues to outpace supply across North and South Carolina.
Construction employment reached about 8.33 million in June 2026, yet ongoing labor shortages in skilled trades result in approximately 305,000 unfilled construction job openings nationwide. The construction industry needs 500,000 additional workers in 2026 to keep pace with project pipelines, and Carolinas contractors are feeling that pressure acutely.
BLS JOLTS data for 2026 confirm that several hundred thousand construction jobs remain unfilled nationwide, with openings reaching 298,000 as of the most recent verified monthly release and trending upward. ABC National’s June report on job openings in construction highlighted a meaningful year-over-year increase, reinforcing that contractors across the country are struggling to staff the work in their pipelines. Construction and extraction occupations are projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034, making this a structural reality rather than a seasonal blip.
What does “job openings” actually mean in the JOLTS survey? It refers to budgeted positions that employers are actively recruiting for but have not yet filled. It excludes frozen roles or positions with no active recruiting. This is a leading demand signal for the labor market, while employment counts and unemployment rates are more lagging indicators. If you run a construction business and you are planning capacity for Q3–Q4 2026 bids, openings tell you more about future pressure than last month’s payroll.
The May 2026 employment report provided valuable month-over-month context on overall construction industry jobs and growth. This analysis focuses specifically on what persistently high openings signal for your hiring process, retention, and project delivery strategy in the months ahead.
National openings data hits differently when your projects are in Charlotte, Raleigh–Durham, the I-85 corridor, or Upstate South Carolina. The construction job market has strong demand driven by infrastructure projects, and active hiring trends in construction are driven by investments in data centers and renewable energy infrastructure-both of which are concentrated in central North Carolina and along the Southeast’s major industrial corridors.
Charlotte alone has nearly $20 billion in future construction projects, yet the city estimates a shortfall of roughly 5,000 construction workers to execute that pipeline. Charlotte is investing $2.1 million in workforce programs to help close this gap, but the scale of the challenge is regional. Forty percent of counties in North Carolina face construction labor shortages, which means the pressure is not limited to metro areas.
For merit shop contractors, persistent openings increase competition not only for craft labor but also for field leadership and project leaders. When your backlog is strong-ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator has held near 8.8 months-every unfilled role compounds the strain on scheduling, estimating, and crew productivity. Executives should treat the June 2026 openings data as confirmation that labor availability will remain a top strategic risk through at least the next 6–12 months.
Headlines often blend different labor indicators together, but construction executives need precision when making staffing decisions.
Consider a Carolinas contractor with rising openings but stable hires and low quits. That company is winning work faster than it can staff projects-even though it is not losing people at unusual rates. Contrast that with a firm where openings are flat, but quits rise in Charlotte or the Triangle: that signals a retention problem, not a pure recruiting challenge. Turnover and volume recruitment needs are high for construction laborers across sectors, and retention of existing staff is prioritized over layoffs in the construction industry amid economic uncertainties.
Focusing only on unemployment rates in North Carolina or South Carolina can be misleading. Many experienced craft workers move between employers quickly, keeping the state rate looking healthy while individual firms scramble to fill key roles.
High job openings in construction are not evenly distributed. Certain construction roles in the Carolinas are under especially intense pressure, and the aging workforce is accelerating the problem: 41% of construction workers are expected to retire by 2031.
Craft labor: Laborers, electricians, carpenters, and cost estimators are in high demand across several regions. Electricians are needed for sophisticated electrical and renewable energy installations, particularly along the NC data center corridor. Current heavy equipment job opportunities involve operating machinery for infrastructure projects in Charlotte, the Triangle, and Upstate SC. Specialized roles in technology-related construction are creating demand for workers with field and technical skills.
Field leadership: Foremen and general foremen remain hard to replace because they convert daily plans into safe, productive crew execution. One missing superintendent can delay multiple construction projects, especially on complex commercial projects and mission-critical facilities.
Project leadership: Project managers are crucial for overseeing budgets and schedules in construction projects. Competition for project engineers, assistant PMs, and early-career project managers in Raleigh–Durham and Greenville–Spartanburg is significant, as owners expect tight schedule control and detailed reporting.
Current construction job opportunities include entry-level laborers and skilled trades positions, and construction continues to offer a wide range of opportunities from entry-level roles to management positions. Executives should audit which roles consistently sit open for 60–90 days and treat those as strategic bottlenecks requiring special focus.
Sustained high construction job openings drive up wages, signing incentives, and poaching risk across the Carolinas. Construction wages increased 4.2% year-over-year as of August 2025, and the upward trend has continued into 2026, with average hourly earnings for construction workers in the region running near $41.20. When many construction companies are chasing the same candidates, total compensation packages-including per diem, benefits, and scheduling flexibility-become decisive.
Understaffed projects often rely on overtime and compressed schedules, which increases safety concerns. Safety incidents at construction sites rose 8% in 2024, and OSHA emphasizes proper PPE for construction workers as a baseline expectation. Construction safety training is essential for reducing workplace injuries, and effective safety training improves worker retention and morale-making safety programs a workforce strategy as much as a compliance requirement.
Schedule risk compounds quickly. When a mechanical subcontractor on a mission-critical facility cannot fill key roles, milestones slip, liquidated-damages exposure increases, and relationships with owners and GCs suffer. In a high-openings environment, retention is as important as recruiting-because replacing a foreman, superintendent, or project manager can take months, during which project control weakens.
Executives in North and South Carolina should revisit offers, benefits, and career paths at least annually to protect margins across their project portfolios.
High construction job openings require a disciplined workforce strategy-not just more job postings or higher referral bonuses. Construction companies need to treat hiring as a core business capability. The construction industry needs 349,000 new workers in 2026, and only 7% of potential job seekers consider construction careers. Closing that gap demands intentional action.
Widen sourcing channels beyond traditional job boards: pursue high-school and community-college outreach, veteran recruitment networks, and bilingual recruiting for Spanish-speaking crews. Employee referrals are a key recruitment tool in construction and consistently produce higher-quality candidates. Networking events help small businesses expand into commercial projects, and firms of every size should use them to build recruiting visibility.
Develop internal talent ladders-laborer to foreman to superintendent, project engineer to project manager-so openings at higher levels can be filled by prepared employees rather than expensive external searches.
Executive checklist: Is your workforce strategy keeping pace?
One of the most effective responses to sustained job openings in construction is long-term investment in apprenticeship, craft education, and leadership development. Apprenticeship programs are vital for gaining recognized trade credentials in construction, and apprenticeships improve labor availability in construction by building a pipeline of skilled workers from within your own community.
Registered apprenticeship pathways for electricians, carpenters, plumbers, HVAC techs, and equipment operators allow Carolinas construction firms to grow their own top talent rather than relying solely on a tight external labor market. Construction firms report easier fills for entry-level roles through apprenticeships, and apprenticeships help fill a projected shortage of 349,000 workers in 2026.
Strong apprenticeship programs also appeal to younger generations, high school graduates, and veterans who want to enter construction careers with a clear path to journeyperson, foreman, and superintendent roles. When formal training connects to career advancement-and to safer, more productive jobsites-the investment pays for itself through better retention, crew productivity, and project delivery.
ABC Carolinas helps members design, implement, and scale workforce development and apprenticeship programs across North Carolina and South Carolina, including NCCER-aligned curricula and on-the-job learning that feeds directly into leadership development.
ABC Carolinas represents merit shop construction firms that compete in an open labor market-a market that grows more intense when construction job openings remain elevated. The merit shop philosophy rewards performance, offers flexible pay and benefits, and promotes based on skill and contribution. For employers competing to attract and retain skilled workers, these are not abstract principles. They are competitive advantages.
Merit shop contractors can adjust compensation, offer project-based incentives, and customize career paths for standout foremen, superintendents, and project managers without the constraints of more rigid labor models. Union contractors may offer different structures, but the agility of merit shop firms gives them an edge in decision-making around wages, benefits, and crew composition.
Open competition for labor also raises the bar on culture, safety, and leadership. Construction companies that invest in safe jobsites, modern equipment, and respectful supervision will attract more candidates, even when wages are similar. ABC Carolinas’ advocacy in Raleigh and Columbia supports policies that protect open competition, fair procurement, and training opportunities-all factors that influence long-term labor availability across the construction industry.
ABC Carolinas serves as a regional hub for workforce development, safety programs, and leadership support for commercial construction firms across North and South Carolina. ABC Carolinas offers safety management education programs and workforce-focused resources that directly address the challenge of sustained high openings.
ABC Carolinas offers events for members to compare regional demand signals-through networking events, Regional Leadership Councils, and peer roundtables, contractors, specialty firms, and suppliers share real-time intelligence on where labor is tightest and what organizations are doing to adapt. These forums are valuable research opportunities for any company trying to benchmark its hiring and retention performance against the broader market.
The chapter also provides education and briefings that interpret data from ABC National, BLS, and regional sources, helping executives translate openings, backlog, and spending trends into practical hiring and project decisions. For firms looking to deepen their approach to competing for skilled workers, the workforce and hiring strategy hub is a natural companion to this analysis. For those focused on strengthening field leadership, ABC Carolinas’ leadership training resources help bridge the gap from craft to superintendent.
June 2026’s elevated construction job openings confirm that labor will remain both a strategic constraint and a competitive differentiator for Carolinas contractors for the foreseeable future. The firms that win will be those who protect field leadership capacity, strengthen apprenticeship and craft training pipelines, and align hiring plans tightly to backlog and realistic project start dates.
Your next steps:
Companies that treat job openings data as an early-warning system-and move quickly to adjust-are more likely to deliver safe, on-time, and profitable construction projects across North and South Carolina. The data is telling you something. The question is whether your company acts on it before your competition does.
These questions address common concerns Carolinas construction leaders raise after seeing headlines about rising construction job openings. Each answer provides practical, specific guidance for contractors managing workforce challenges in this market.
Prioritize critical roles-superintendents, foremen, and key craft leads-even during a backlog dip, because these positions take the longest to fill when demand rebounds. Reduce hiring in more flexible positions, but avoid broad hiring freezes that could damage long-term capacity. Focus on cross-training and redeploying existing staff across projects in Charlotte, the Triangle, and the Upstate. Evaluate selective use of overtime, contingent staffing, and targeted apprenticeship recruitment to protect core capabilities while maintaining financial discipline. Funding for workforce investment should be treated as a long-term commitment, not a line item you cut at the first sign of softness.
In the current labor market, realistic time-to-fill ranges are approximately 3–6 weeks for craft labor, 6–10 weeks for foremen, and 8–16 weeks for superintendents or project managers. Track your own metrics and compare them to these benchmarks to identify whether your recruiting process-or the regional community of available candidates-is the main constraint. Firms investing in apprenticeship, referrals, and a strong employer brand through ABC Carolinas often achieve shorter time-to-fill than competitors relying mostly on staffing agencies or a single job ad.
Smaller construction firms can offer what many large GCs cannot: broader responsibilities, faster promotion opportunities, closer leadership relationships, and less bureaucracy. Highlight flexible scheduling, local projects that reduce travel, and a stronger sense of team culture to attract experienced workers. Use ABC Carolinas networking, apprenticeship partnerships, and peer groups to amplify your company’s visibility and learn practical recruiting tactics from similar-sized merit shop firms. Many candidates value access to meaningful work and real mentoring over the name on a hard hat.
Avoid automatic wage increases tied to each monthly openings report. Instead, use a structured annual or semiannual review that incorporates multiple data points: openings, turnover, offer acceptance rates, and competitor intelligence. Sudden, reactive wage hikes can damage internal equity and erode margins. Use targeted adjustments for hard-to-fill roles and pair pay with clearer career development, training commitments, and benefits that differentiate your firm. Benchmark compensation through ABC Carolinas peer discussions and credible wage surveys rather than headlines alone-this protects margins while keeping your company competitive for the right candidates.
Reference persistent construction job openings-especially for specialized trades and field leadership-when discussing realistic schedules with owners and general contractors. Use current openings and regional labor trends as context, not excuses, to negotiate achievable milestones, phased turnovers, and contingency plans for specific projects. Transparent communication about labor constraints, paired with evidence of proactive recruiting and training efforts, builds trust and reduces conflict over delays in North and South Carolina. Owners who understand the market will respect builders who come prepared with data and a plan.
