Construction Job Openings Rise as Dodge Index Slips 0.4%

The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), tracked by Dodge Construction Network, declined 0.4% in August 2026 to 282.0 (2000=100), down from a downwardly revised July reading of 283.0, according to Construction Business Owner's report on the Dodge release. Commercial planning fell 3.0% for the month while institutional planning rose 4.9%. Year over year, the DMI was up 4.2% compared with August 2025, driven largely by data center activity in the commercial segment.

Job openings near a two-year high

Associated Builders and Contractors reported that construction job openings reached 326,000 on the last day of July 2026, an increase of 28,000 from the prior month and near the highest level in almost two years, based on ABC's analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS data, as reported by Construction Business Owner. The JOLTS measure counts any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting, and the data does not distinguish newly created roles from long-vacant ones. ABC's report was published Sept. 1, 2026, describing July conditions.

Taken together, a planning index that ticked down alongside job openings that rose is a reminder that Dodge's index measures projects entering planning, not current staffing conditions. The two data points describe different parts of the construction pipeline and should not be read as confirming or contradicting each other.

New research on multiskilled labor

Construction Executive reported that Associated Builders and Contractors highlighted a new dataset from the Simplar Foundation, produced with researchers from Arizona State University, the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, describing it as the largest national dataset on multiskilled construction labor. According to the report, the study observed 60 crews totaling 644 workers across 36 projects in 24 states, drawing on more than 11,400 productivity observations. The research found that multiskilled crews spent a larger share of time on direct construction work and less time idle compared with single-trade crews, and that participating contractors reported an average Total Recordable Incident Rate of 0.74, which the study said was below an industry benchmark. These figures come from the study as reported by Construction Executive and describe observed conditions on the specific projects sampled, not the industry overall.

Copper tariff decision remains unresolved

Reuters reported on Sept. 10, 2026, that the White House has not made a final decision on a proposed tariff on refined copper, citing two people familiar with the matter. Copper is a material used across construction, electronics and other industries. Reuters did not report any change to current copper prices or supply conditions tied specifically to the construction sector as a result of the pending decision.

MarketScale analysis

MarketScale analysis: These three reports describe separate data points rather than one unified trend. Elevated job openings suggest continued hiring activity in the sector, but ABC's data does not indicate how many openings reflect new demand versus backfill. The multiskilling research documents an approach some contractors use to manage crew coverage, though its measured benefits applied to the specific projects studied and should not be generalized industry-wide. The copper tariff decision remains undetermined, and no sourced reporting describes how individual contractors are responding to that uncertainty.