Construction jobs in Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties ran 2.1% below a year earlier in August, the ninth month in a row

Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties counted 59,500 mining, logging and construction jobs in August 2026, 1,300 or 2.1% fewer than in August 2025, according to preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that are not seasonally adjusted. It was the ninth month in a row below the same month a year earlier, the longest such run since a 12-month stretch that ended in March 2021. The drop follows a record year: in 2025 the three counties averaged 58,600 of these jobs, the highest annual average in a series that starts in 1990.

The figures come from the BLS Current Employment Statistics survey, a monthly count of jobs on employer payrolls, for the Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County metropolitan division, a BLS area made of the three counties. BLS reports construction in this area together with mining and logging. FRED updated the August figure on September 18, 2026.

All eight months of 2026 so far came in below the same month of 2025

Through most of 2025 the comparison ran the other way. From March through October 2025, every month was above the same month of 2024, by as much as 1,500 jobs in May. November 2025 matched November 2024 at 58,900.

The gap opened in December 2025, when the count came in 1,600 below December 2024. February 2026 showed the widest gap: 51,900 jobs against 55,300 a year earlier, a drop of 3,400 or 6.1%. April came closest to the year before, 200 jobs short. From May through August the shortfall ran between 800 and 1,600 jobs a month.

The earlier run of 12 months began in April 2020, when the count fell to 37,000 against 55,200 a year before, and ended in March 2021. The shortfalls in the current run are far smaller, at most 3,400 jobs, in February 2026.

The count rises from winter to summer every year, because the series keeps its seasonal pattern. That is why this article compares each month with the same month a year earlier instead of with the month before.

The 2025 average, 58,600, was the highest since the series began in 1990

The 2026 numbers still sit near the top of the series' range. The annual average climbed from 44,600 in 2010 to 58,600 in 2025, passing the previous high of 58,400 set in 2023.

The low point of the series was 39,800, in 1992. From 2010 through 2025, the annual average fell from one year to the next only three times, in 2012, 2020 and 2024.

August 2026's 59,500 ranks seventh among the 37 Augusts since 1990. Only August of 2005, 2006, 2007, 2023, 2024 and 2025 counted more. August 2025, at 60,800, tied 2006 and 2007 for the highest August in the series.

In August, the three counties accounted for all of the metro area's 1,300-job drop

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro area, which takes in the three counties along with other counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, counted 128,300 mining, logging and construction jobs in August 2026, not seasonally adjusted. That was 1,300 or 1.0% fewer than in August 2025.

Subtracting the three counties from the metro total leaves 68,800 jobs in the rest of the metro area in both August 2025 and August 2026. By that arithmetic, the three counties account for the whole of the metro area's August decline. The three counties held 46.4% of the metro area's jobs in this series in August 2026.

From January through August 2026, the three counties ran below the year before in every month, by 200 to 3,400 jobs. The rest of the metro area ran below in five of the eight months, by 1,000 jobs or fewer, ran above in January and July, and was level in August. In February, the metro area's count fell 4,100 from a year earlier, and 3,400 of that drop was in the three counties.

Montgomery County authorized 2,231 new housing units in 2025, 10.4% fewer than in 2024

Housing permits give a second local reading, though they count only new privately owned housing and the Census Bureau publishes them by county once a year. Montgomery County's municipalities authorized 2,231 new housing units in 2025, 10.4% fewer than the 2,490 they authorized in 2024. The Census Bureau released the 2025 county figures on May 14, 2026.

The 2025 total was above the county's recent average. Over the 10 years from 2016 through 2025, the county authorized about 2,020 units a year. In the 1990s it averaged about 3,200, and in 2009 it authorized 800, the lowest in the series.

The permit count covers Montgomery County alone, while the jobs series covers all three counties.

Thirteen months of the series, August 2025 to August 2026

Mining, logging and construction jobs, not seasonally adjusted. The three counties are Montgomery, Bucks and Chester. The metro area is Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington. August 2026 is preliminary.

Data: this table, monthly jobs since 2016, change from a year earlier, 2025 and 2026 by month, annual averages, August of each year, metro comparison and housing permits (CSV).

What this means for your business

• Compare your own headcount, and your subcontractors', with the same month last year. The three-county figure tells you whether a change in your shop matches the area or runs against it.
• The next release, with September 2026 figures, is scheduled for October 20, 2026. A September count below September 2025's 59,800 would make a tenth month in a row below the year before.
• For what local trades earn, see construction wages in the Philadelphia area. For the permit series and materials prices, see construction jobs, permits and materials prices.
• For national construction employment, see Construction Metrics.