There were 413,000 construction job openings in January, near the record 454,000 vacancies in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the industry needs to bring on more than 700,000 new workers a year because so many people are leaving field, mainly due to retirements, said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders.

More than one in five construction workers were age 55 or older in 2021, according to an NAHB analysis of Census data.

These businesses say they can’t keep up with consumer demand without immigrant workers. Americans just don’t want the jobs