Merit shop workforce development gets easier to postpone when crews are still covering the work. The better move is to review pressure points before hiring friction affects schedules, supervision, or bid capacity.
That is the practical takeaway from recent national job-openings data. Construction Executive reported, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS data, that construction had 305,000 job openings at the end of June 2026. The next BLS JOLTS release showed 327,000 construction openings in July 2026.
Those figures are national, not county-by-county counts for Eastern Pennsylvania. They don’t show what is happening in Philadelphia, the collar counties, the Lehigh Valley, or Northeast Pennsylvania. They do, however, provide a reasonable signal to review where your company is most exposed if labor constraints persist.
This article stays narrow on purpose: a 30-day audit and a 90-day response checklist Eastern Pennsylvania contractors can use now.
Under the JOLTS framework, a job opening is a position that exists on the last business day of the month, that the employer is actively recruiting for, and that could be filled within 30 days. By that measure, construction recorded 305,000 openings in June 2026 and 327,000 in July 2026 nationally.
The disciplined conclusion is not that every local market is experiencing the same conditions. It is that contractors have a timely reason to test their own systems instead of waiting for a staffing problem to show up in the field.
For most firms, the most useful merit shop workforce development review starts here: if labor pressure increases, where does it affect the business first?
The answer may differ across ABC Eastern Pennsylvania’s 17-county region. Philadelphia and the suburban counties may feel it first through supervision, documentation, and coordination demands. Lehigh Valley firms may feel it as they scale crews across overlapping industrial or commercial phases. Northeast Pennsylvania contractors may feel it through recruiting reach and retention across a wider footprint.
Bring together operations, HR, and field leadership. Over the next 30 days, review the questions below and mark each one red, yellow, or green.
| Audit question | What it usually signals | Immediate next step |
|---|---|---|
| Are open roles tied to active revenue-producing work? | The issue is already operational, not theoretical | Reduce interview delays and tighten offer timing this month |
| Are the same trades hard to fill across more than one project cycle? | The company may have a pipeline gap, not just a recruiting gap | Review training pathways and repeat candidate sources |
| Are foremen or superintendents spending too much time fixing basic new-hire readiness issues? | Early onboarding may be breaking down | Standardize day-one expectations, tool readiness, and first-week support |
| Are bids being passed on because labor capacity is uncertain? | Workforce planning is constraining growth | Align backlog forecasting with hiring and training decisions |
| Can employees clearly describe their next advancement step? | Retention risk may be building | Make role progression and training milestones visible |
Scoring guide
The goal is not a perfect spreadsheet. The goal is to identify where labor pressure could become project risk first.
Consider a hypothetical contractor with active suburban work and one planned Lehigh Valley start. The 30-day audit shows:
That company does not need a broad labor-market theory. It needs a short 90-day plan. A reasonable response might be to shorten hiring turnaround, assign one leader to own first-week onboarding, and compare whether formal apprenticeship and craft training support could reduce repeat exposure in the trade under the most pressure.
This example does not predict results. It shows how a national signal can trigger a more disciplined local response.
After the audit, keep the next phase tight and executable.
ABC Eastern Pennsylvania supports contractors across a 17-county region through workforce development, apprenticeship training, safety education, business connections, advocacy, and membership resources.
The chapter’s workforce development efforts connect students, educators, and employers. Its Apprenticeship Trust has offered registered apprenticeship and craft training since 1967. Public first-party training information also lists instruction in trade areas including carpentry, construction craft laborer, electrical, HVAC, masonry, pipefitting, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, and sprinkler fitting.
That matters because workforce pressure is rarely solved through recruiting alone. Many firms need some combination of pipeline development, onboarding discipline, field leadership support, and long-term training capacity.
Workforce development is not only about attracting people. It is also about whether the first days and first weeks of employment feel organized, credible, and worth staying for.
That is why onboarding, supervision, and safety should be reviewed together. A disorganized orientation, unclear expectations, or inconsistent site practices can make retention harder. The same is true for experienced workers who lose confidence in how the job is being run.
ABC Eastern Pennsylvania’s safety resources include training, consulting, and support for construction employers. This article is not claiming that safety programs guarantee retention outcomes. It makes the narrower point that stronger systems around jobsite expectations and early employee experience can support a more stable workforce.
The June and July 2026 JOLTS data should not be treated as local proof of conditions in Eastern Pennsylvania. Treat it as a prompt to review your own exposure.
If your company hasn’t recently examined hiring speed, repeat trade gaps, onboarding discipline, and leadership depth, now is a reasonable time to do so. Start with a 30-day audit. Then build a 90-day response plan tied to the roles that matter most to your backlog.
That is the practical takeaway for merit shop workforce development. Elevated national openings do not tell you exactly what is happening on your job sites, but they are a useful reason to tighten systems before labor pressure starts affecting starts, supervision, or the work you can confidently pursue.
