Construction Employment June 2026: Residential Crews Are Feeling the Slowdown While Nonresidential Trades Keep Hiring

George Carrillo, Hispanic Construction Council | July 6, 2026 | [hispanicconstructioncouncil.org](https://hispanicconstructioncouncil.org)

Construction employment in June 2026 is not telling contractors one simple story. It is showing a construction market split. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on July 2, 2026 that total construction employment added 11,000 jobs in June. Inside that total, residential building construction lost 2,900 jobs and residential specialty trade contractors lost 5,700, while nonresidential building construction added 3,200 jobs, heavy and civil engineering construction added 2,600, and nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 14,100. For Hispanic contractors deciding where to protect backlog, crews, and bid effort in July 2026, the split matters more than the headline.

Three data points explain the market quickly:

1. 1.U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2026: construction added 11,000 jobs, but residential building lost 2,900 and nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 14,100.
2. 2.U.S. Census Bureau, May 2026 housing starts: 1,177,000, down 15.4% from April and 8.7% from May 2025.
3. 3.U.S. Census Bureau, May 2026 construction spending: public construction reached a $541.2 billion annual rate, with highway construction at $150.6 billion and up 0.6% from April.

HCC's internal data strengthens the contractor read. [HCC's 2026 State of Hispanic Construction report](https://hispanicconstructioncouncil.org/report) shows 4.3 million Hispanic construction workers represent 35.2% of the U.S. construction workforce. When residential hiring softens and public or nonresidential lanes keep moving, Hispanic firms and Hispanic crews feel that shift early.

Why are residential crews feeling the slowdown first?

Residential crews are feeling the slowdown first because the housing pipeline weakened before the June payroll table confirmed it.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported on June 16, 2026 that May housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,177,000. That was down 15.4% from April and down 8.7% from May 2025. One week later, on June 24, 2026, Census reported new home sales at 580,000, down 7.3% from April, while months' supply rose to 10.3. When starts, sales, and supply move in the wrong direction together, residential contractors should expect the labor side to soften next.

That is exactly what the June 2026 BLS table showed. Residential building construction was down 14,400 jobs from June 2025. Residential specialty trade contractors were down 34,400 jobs from June 2025. Those are not abstract market signals. They land in framing, concrete, roofing, HVAC, electrical, drywall, finishes, and the subcontract lanes where many small Hispanic-owned firms depend on short-cycle work.

For contractors, residential weakness is not just a macro story. It is a cash-flow story, a backlog story, and a crew-retention story. When starts slow and new-home sales soften, competition tightens faster, pricing gets more aggressive, and the gap between jobs stretches out. Firms that are overexposed to one residential lane usually feel margin pressure before they see it in a broader industry headline.

Where is construction hiring still growing in July 2026?

Construction hiring is still growing in nonresidential building, heavy and civil engineering construction, and especially nonresidential specialty trade contractors.

The June 2026 BLS table is clear on that point. Nonresidential building construction added 3,200 jobs over the month. Heavy and civil engineering construction added 2,600. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 14,100, which was the largest construction gain in the table. This is where contractors should assume the steadier bid environment is sitting until the next federal release says otherwise.

The spending side points the same way. On July 1, 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that total construction spending in May rose 0.1% from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.2102 trillion. More important for contractor positioning, public construction spending rose 0.5% to $541.2 billion. Highway construction rose 0.6% to $150.6 billion, and educational construction rose 0.6% to $113.4 billion.

That does not mean every public or nonresidential package is easy to win. It means the demand is holding better in the parts of the market tied to infrastructure, schools, utility work, public owners, and nonresidential specialty scopes than it is in rate-sensitive residential work. Firms positioned for concrete, site work, utility, roadway, mechanical, and electrical packages are reading a different market than firms depending mostly on residential volume.

What should Hispanic contractors do when the market splits like this?

Hispanic contractors should treat the construction market split as a positioning decision, not just a forecasting exercise.

HCC's 2026 State of Hispanic Construction shows that Hispanic workers make up 35.2% of the U.S. construction workforce, and HCC's ownership research shows approximately 95,000 Hispanic-owned construction firms generate $779 billion in annual revenue. That is enough scale to influence who actually gets work when the market rotates. The question is whether firms move fast enough to follow the work that is still forming.

There are four immediate moves that matter:

1. 1.Audit your backlog by market lane. If most of your revenue is tied to residential building or residential specialty scopes, quantify that exposure now instead of waiting for late-summer slowdown to show up in billing.
2. 2.Shift business development toward the scopes that are still hiring. Update capability sheets, safety records, insurance files, project lists, and prequalification packages for public work, utility, civil, mechanical, electrical, concrete, and nonresidential specialty trades.
3. 3.Protect workforce stability. If the market is rotating, bilingual supervision, safety readiness, and crew retention matter more because firms that can move quickly into the steadier lane keep labor continuity while slower firms lose trained people.
4. 4.Use HCC's contractor resources. [HCC contractor research and market resources](https://hispanicconstructioncouncil.org) give firms a direct way to track workforce data, market conditions, and the HCC report set that primes and public partners increasingly recognize.

This is also why ownership access matters. Not every Hispanic-owned firm can move into public or nonresidential work on demand. Bonding capacity, prequalification, working capital, and GC access still determine who can follow the demand shift. But firms that start the repositioning now have a materially better chance of protecting crews and staying visible when the next round of work is awarded.

Sources

1. 1.U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail, June 2026, released July 2, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm
2. 2.U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly New Residential Construction, May 2026, released June 16, 2026. https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/current/index.html
3. 3.U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly New Residential Sales, May 2026, released June 24, 2026. https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/current/index.html
4. 4.U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly Construction Spending, May 2026, released July 1, 2026. https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/current/index.html
5. 5.Hispanic Construction Council, State of Hispanic Construction 2026. https://hispanicconstructioncouncil.org/report

This analysis was published by the Hispanic Construction Council on July 6, 2026. George Carrillo leads HCC's construction workforce and contractor access work. For ongoing contractor intelligence, report access, and HCC resources, visit [hispanicconstructioncouncil.org](https://hispanicconstructioncouncil.org).