Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows job openings are at some of their lowest levels nationally since April 2021. After hitting a low of about 8.9 million in July 2023, job openings rose in August to 9.6 million. That number was 10.2 million a year ago, and in August 2021, job openings reached nearly 11 million. As the number of jobs open for hire rose, employers continued to add jobs, upping employment by 187,000 in August.

  The U.S. is short about 4.3 million homes, according to recent estimates from Zillow, a key reason buying a home has gotten more expensive. But the simplest solution, to build more houses, has a flaw—there's no one to build them. That's because homebuilders can't find construction workers. "In the wake of the Great Recession, the residential construction industry lost 1.5 million jobs. Tens of thousands of homebuilders went out of business.