The ongoing skilled labor shortage is delaying the completion of thousands of new homes and costing the U.S. home building industry an estimated $10.8 billion per year, according to the Home Builders Institute’s (HBI) Fall 2025 Construction Labor Market Report. National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) economists found that the shortage adds $2.66 billion annually in higher carrying costs and results in $8.14 billion in lost single-family construction — roughly 19,000 homes — due to extended build times and limited skilled labor. Key findings of the report include: the residential construction workforce includes 3.3 million payroll workers; amid a slowing job market, builders and remodelers lost 26,100 jobs over the past year; wages for non-supervisory construction workers rose 9.2% in July, far outpacing overall inflation and sector-wide wage growth; women now represent 11.2% of construction workers — the highest share in 20 years, up from 9.1% in 2017; immigrant workers make up 25.5% of the construction workforce, and one in three tradespeople was born outside the U.S.; Gen Z participation has more than doubled, rising from 6.4% in 2019 to 14.1% in 2023. Read more at the NAHB website.
Source: National Association of Home Builders; 10/10/2025