# Cory Stahle and Nick Bunker argue in Indeed Hiring Lab that construction hiring held up [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/cory-stahle-and-nick-bunker-argue-in-indeed-hiring-lab-that-915d3de3) Cory Stahle and Nick Bunker’s June 29, 2023 update in Indeed Hiring Lab argues that construction hiring held up better than expected as interest rates rose. They point to construction job postings falling less than overall postings and posted wage growth remaining strong, even as both cooled. They suggest that housing construction activity, factory building and infrastructure projects may have supported demand for construction workers, but do not establish which factors mattered most. The authors describe the broader US labor market as robust, with low joblessness and layoffs, while job postings and wage growth cool. They also warn that it may still stumble amid tight monetary policy, stress in the US banking system and slowing economic growth. The update explains nominal wage growth as pay gains measured before inflation is taken into account. Its measures concern job postings and posted wages; it does not establish how these trends affected workers’ realized pay or job security. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source Indeed Hiring Lab · Article Original source date: Jun 29, 2023 (2023-06-29). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s archive: its article address or archive listing. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-10-30T23:42:28.829Z. First observed: 2026-10-30T16:53:52.374Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-30T16:55:47.610Z. - [June 2023 US Labor Market Update: The Construction Labor Market Hasn’t Yet Buckled](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 30, 2026; originally published June 29, 2023. The update identifies possible contributors to construction labor demand but does not establish their relative effects. Job postings and posted wage growth are the measures discussed; the update does not establish workers’ realized pay or job security from these measures. ## Open question How much did housing construction, factory building and infrastructure projects each contribute to construction labor demand? ## Source-stated Cory Stahle and Nick Bunker report that construction job postings fell less year over year than overall and manufacturing postings. > Construction job postings were down 6% year-over-year as of June 23, but they are holding up better than overall postings which are down 17%. - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source-stated The authors report that posted wage growth for construction jobs remained above its pre-2020 average, despite cooling from a recent peak. > posted annual wage growth for Construction jobs was 4.4% in May 2023, up from an annual average of 3.6% across 2019. - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source-stated The authors suggest housing activity, factory construction, and infrastructure projects may help explain construction’s resilience. > There’s also the possibility that demand for construction from other parts of the economy, such as manufacturing companies building new factories, has also kept demand for workers elevated, along with an influx of new road and infrastructure projects - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source-stated The authors say the broader labor market remains resilient but could still stumble amid ongoing economic pressures. > the labor market is resilient but may yet stumble in the face of ongoing tight monetary policy, stress in the US banking system, and slowing economic growth. - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source and contributor context Indeed Hiring Lab · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 5bbe5eee-a9ef-26f1-f757-785409b7e01f. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-10-30T23:42:02.865Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: a2a454aad769b05255a0485ab37fd81ccdab64c8557c7fb640f7864c8e3edd2a. Source text hash: ecbc29d4f6500c518bff745270578c9b051370c4d89e10d7249efb30600ca2c6. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-10-30T23:42:28.829Z Cory Stahle and Nick Bunker’s June 29, 2023 update in Indeed Hiring Lab argues that construction hiring held up better than expected as interest rates rose. They point to construction job postings falling less than overall postings and posted wage growth remaining strong, even as both cooled. They suggest that housing construction activity, factory building and infrastructure projects may have supported demand for construction workers, but do not establish which factors mattered most. The authors describe the broader US labor market as robust, with low joblessness and layoffs, while job postings and wage growth cool. They also warn that it may still stumble amid tight monetary policy, stress in the US banking system and slowing economic growth. The update explains nominal wage growth as pay gains measured before inflation is taken into account. Its measures concern job postings and posted wages; it does not establish how these trends affected workers’ realized pay or job security. ## Original source Indeed Hiring Lab · Article Original source date: Jun 29, 2023 (2023-06-29). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s archive: its article address or archive listing. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-10-30T23:42:28.829Z. First observed: 2026-10-30T16:53:52.374Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-30T16:55:47.610Z. - [June 2023 US Labor Market Update: The Construction Labor Market Hasn’t Yet Buckled](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 30, 2026; originally published June 29, 2023. The update identifies possible contributors to construction labor demand but does not establish their relative effects. Job postings and posted wage growth are the measures discussed; the update does not establish workers’ realized pay or job security from these measures. ## Open question How much did housing construction, factory building and infrastructure projects each contribute to construction labor demand? ## Source-stated Cory Stahle and Nick Bunker report that construction job postings fell less year over year than overall and manufacturing postings. > Construction job postings were down 6% year-over-year as of June 23, but they are holding up better than overall postings which are down 17%. - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source-stated The authors report that posted wage growth for construction jobs remained above its pre-2020 average, despite cooling from a recent peak. > posted annual wage growth for Construction jobs was 4.4% in May 2023, up from an annual average of 3.6% across 2019. - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source-stated The authors suggest housing activity, factory construction, and infrastructure projects may help explain construction’s resilience. > There’s also the possibility that demand for construction from other parts of the economy, such as manufacturing companies building new factories, has also kept demand for workers elevated, along with an influx of new road and infrastructure projects - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source-stated The authors say the broader labor market remains resilient but could still stumble amid ongoing economic pressures. > the labor market is resilient but may yet stumble in the face of ongoing tight monetary policy, stress in the US banking system, and slowing economic growth. - [Supporting source](https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2023/06/29/june-2023-us-labor-market-update/) ## Source and contributor context Indeed Hiring Lab · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 5bbe5eee-a9ef-26f1-f757-785409b7e01f. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-10-30T23:42:02.865Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: a2a454aad769b05255a0485ab37fd81ccdab64c8557c7fb640f7864c8e3edd2a. Source text hash: ecbc29d4f6500c518bff745270578c9b051370c4d89e10d7249efb30600ca2c6. ### passed — 2026-10-30T23:42:02.865Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: 5bbe5eee-a9ef-26f1-f757-785409b7e01f attribution — pass: The reading correctly attributes the update to Cory Stahle and Nick Bunker at Indeed Hiring Lab, matching the byline. Its arguments stay attributed to the authors rather than being presented as established fact. > By Cory Stahle & Nick Bunker summary — pass: The summary faithfully conveys the thesis that construction held up despite rising rates, the evidence behind it and the broader labor market picture with its warning. It explains nominal wage growth. One minor nuance: the source states housing more firmly ('Partly because') and treats factories and infrastructure as a 'possibility'. The draft frames all three as 'may have'. This does not misstate the position. The question follows from the source's own 'Either way' uncertainty. > Why has construction held up so well? Partly because the housing market hasn’t crashed as some might have expected. date — pass: originalPublished 2023-06-29 at day precision matches the source dateline. The page is a publisher page, not an archive copy. The reading does not use the related-stories carousel and makes no hindsight claims. Forecasts, such as the possibility of a stumble, are kept conditional. > June 29, 2023 support — pass: Each claim is source-stated. Construction postings fell 6% against 17% overall and 18% in manufacturing. Construction posted wage growth was 4.4% against a 3.6% 2019 average, after slowing from a peak. The suggested drivers and the resilience-but-may-stumble warning also appear in the source. Limitations about realized pay are appropriately cautious and imply no unsupported benefits or costs. > While wage growth in this sector has slowed from its recent peak, it never grew as quickly as wages in some other sectors. media — pass: No media was selected and no verified media candidates were supplied, so there is no media identity or relevance problem. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. No public references recorded here yet. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/915d3de3fdab20d132102071071c87a8375b56a7af3078b6278bc78d8293ea33/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/cory-stahle-and-nick-bunker-argue-in-indeed-hiring-lab-that-915d3de3.json)