Blue-Collar Boom: Industry Jobs Surge Ahead of Services
Manufacturing and Construction Job Growth Outpaces Services
U.S. employment growth in manufacturing, construction and other goods-producing industries has outpaced hiring in the larger services economy, a shift that appears to be tied in part to heavy investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centers.
Payrolls among goods producers increased 0.6% in the six months through August, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That was the strongest comparable six-month gain since 2023 and exceeded the 0.4% increase recorded in services.
Manufacturing accounted for much of the improvement. The industry added 43,000 jobs over the three months through August, its strongest three-month gain since the end of 2022. Manufacturing employment also increased by 5,000 jobs in July, bringing total sector employment to approximately 12.6 million workers.
Despite the recent gains, manufacturing employment remains close to, but slightly below, its average level before the pandemic. The sector employed 12.611 million workers in July, compared with an average of 12.613 million from 2017 through 2019.
AI investment drives construction demand
Economists cited the rapid construction of data centers and related facilities as an important factor behind the stronger performance of manufacturing and construction. The buildout is creating demand for factory workers, construction employees and businesses supplying equipment and materials.
“The recent improvement at the nation’s manufacturers, as well as in construction, has plenty to do with the massive AI push and building of data centers,” said Veronica Clark, an economist with Citigroup. She also pointed to tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year, that encouraged investment in equipment and facilities.
Nonresidential construction employment reached a record high during 2026, adding about 15,000 jobs in the first six months of the year. That was one of the industry’s strongest first-half gains in years.
“The private labor market has rebounded in 2026 due to a resurgence of the highly cyclical manufacturing sector, while a robust buildout of data centers has propelled construction employment,” Troy Ludtka, senior economist at SMBC, wrote in a note.
For the trucking industry, stronger activity in these sectors can affect freight demand across several stages of the supply chain. Factory construction and data-center projects require the movement of machinery, building materials, electrical equipment and other components. Manufacturing gains can also support additional shipments of finished goods and industrial supplies.
That does not mean all freight segments are experiencing the same conditions. The data show an improvement in goods-producing employment overall, but manufacturing payrolls remain near pre-pandemic levels rather than at the much higher levels seen during the post-pandemic hiring surge.
Manufacturing activity has improved
The manufacturing sector has expanded for seven consecutive months after contracting for much of the previous two years, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly factory survey. Recent business surveys cited by Ludtka suggest that manufacturing employment could continue to improve.
At the same time, available job openings indicate that the labor market is not as tight as it was during the strongest hiring periods of 2021 through 2023. Manufacturers had 481,000 job openings in June, down from 517,000 in May.
Openings in durable-goods manufacturing increased by 18,000 in June to 345,000. That gain was offset by a 55,000 decline in nondurable-goods openings, which fell to 136,000.
The June total remained above the 432,000 average recorded in manufacturing from 2017 through 2019. It was, however, well below the sector’s average of 756,000 openings from 2021 through 2023.
A low-hire, low-fire labor market
The broader labor market has settled into what economists describe as a low-hire, low-fire environment. Hiring has moderated, but layoffs remain historically low. For workers who have jobs, wage growth continues to outpace inflation by about 1%, although wage gains have softened.
Across the economy, nonfarm business job openings declined from 7.537 million in May to 7.359 million in June. There were 7.094 million unemployed Americans that month, leaving fewer than one unemployed worker for every available job opening.
Looking ahead, most forecasters expect modest employment growth and an unemployment rate that remains near its current level. Some expect hiring to strengthen during the second half of 2026 as tax-related stimulus and easier monetary policy begin to support economic activity.
For trucking, the most immediate significance is the location and type of investment behind the job gains. Construction and manufacturing activity generate freight demand that often moves through regional distribution networks and specialized carriers before reaching a project site or production facility. Continued investment in factories and data centers could provide support for those freight flows, even as other parts of the economy experience slower hiring.
