The number of open construction jobs grew in May, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by the National Association of Home Builders. The number of open construction sector jobs increased for the month, rising slightly from 266,000 in April to 298,000 in May. It was also higher than the 222,000 open jobs recorded one year ago.

How does this compare to the overall job market?

Month-over-month, the share of job openings in the overall economy remained flat at 7.59 million job openings. However, May's reading was higher than the same time last year when there were 7.31 million job openings.

Layoffs increased in May, while quits declined

While the construction job openings rate grew to 3.5% in May, layoffs also increased to 2.1%. However, the rate of quits in the construction industry fell to 1.3%.