Construction provided the clearest bright spot in the latest U.S. jobs report, even as manufacturing hiring stayed muted and central banks on both sides of the Atlantic keep financing conditions tight.
The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January 2026, and the construction industry contributed 33,000 of them, roughly one in four new positions. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%.
That construction surge is why AEM President and CEO Megan Tanel framed the report as a signal of “sustained infrastructure investment” and ongoing private development, in a statement released alongside the data.
The manufacturing angle: a small uptick, not a rebound
For a story about manufacturing jobs, the key detail is how limited the factory-side movement was. The BLS summary table shows manufacturing added 5,000 jobs in January, with durable goods up 9,000 and nondurable goods down 4,000.
In other words, U.S. manufacturing is not collapsing in this print, but it is also not leading the labor market. Construction is.
Wages are still rising at a pace that keeps policymakers cautious. Average hourly earnings in the BLS summary are shown at $37.17 in January.
Why construction is hiring when the broader mood is cautious
Reuters and other outlets described the labor market as stabilizing rather than roaring back, especially after benchmark revisions painted 2025 as much weaker than previously reported. That matters for equipment and manufacturing because it hints at a split economy: Project-driven hiring (infrastructure, energy, big private builds) is still pulling labor into construction.
Rate-sensitive and demand-sensitive sectors are moving more carefully.
This also helps explain the timing of AEM’s messaging ahead of CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 (March 3-7, Las Vegas), where workforce, automation, and productivity tech will be front and center.
Europe: softer construction output, improving sentiment, and steady rates
The European picture is less upbeat on recent construction activity. Eurostat reports production in construction fell 1.1% month-on-month in November 2025 in both the euro area and the EU, and was also down year-on-year in the euro area.
Manufacturing sentiment, however, looks like it is stabilising. The eurozone’s HCOB Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.5 in January 2026, still below the 50 break-even line but closer to it than in December.
Financing conditions are also a big part of the European story. The ECB kept rates unchanged in early February 2026, with the deposit facility rate at 2.00%.
Put together, Europe is signalling “less bad” in manufacturing surveys, but construction output data still shows recent weakness. The U.S., by contrast, is printing real construction hiring now.
For the global construction equipment market, the implication is straightforward:
In the U.S., contractors hiring at this pace tend to push demand toward productivity upgrades, including automation-ready machines, telematics, grade control, and safety tech, because adding people is hard and expensive.
In Europe, the near-term demand story may remain uneven, but stabilising PMIs and steady ECB policy can improve planning visibility for OEMs and supply chains as 2026 unfolds.
It is also worth watching how manufacturers staff up for parts, components, and service networks, not only final assembly. A 5,000-job gain in U.S. manufacturing is a nudge upward, but it is not yet the kind of hiring pulse you see when factories are racing to expand capacity.
Key numbers to quote
- U.S. total payrolls: +130,000 (January 2026)
- Construction: +33,000
- Manufacturing: +5,000 (durables +9,000; nondurables -4,000)
- Unemployment rate: 4.3%
- Euro area construction output: -1.1% m/m (Nov 2025)
- Eurozone manufacturing PMI: 49.5 (Jan 2026)
- ECB deposit rate: 2.00% (unchanged, Feb 2026 decision)
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