Leaders at the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) say construction job growth has stalled in many parts of the U.S. amid growing uncertainty about tax, tariff and labor policy.
To illustrate its point, AGC says construction employment increased in 180 of 360 U.S. metro areas between May 2024 and May 2025.
“Only half of metro areas experienced a year-over-year gain in construction jobs – the fewest since March 2021,” says Ken Simonson, chief economist at AGC. “This appears to support other indications that investors and developers are delaying or canceling planned projects until they know how severely they’ll be affected by evolving tariff and workforce policies.”
AGC says the latest construction spending figures released in early June show construction spending declined over a 12-month period.
“While Washington is working to prevent a massive tax increase, negotiate new trade deals and hopefully boost funding for workforce development, at this point nothing is set in stone,” says Jeffrey Shoaf, CEO of AGC. “The sooner D.C. provides certainty on a host of issues, the more likely construction demand will rebound.”
