{"id":15726,"date":"2026-09-18T03:49:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/?p=15726"},"modified":"2026-09-18T03:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:49:59","slug":"highway-work-is-still-growing-what-julys-numbers-mean-for-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/highway-work-is-still-growing-what-julys-numbers-mean-for-operators\/","title":{"rendered":"Highway Work Is Still Growing: What July&#8217;s Numbers Mean for Operators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Total U.S. construction spending sat at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/construction\/c30\/current\/index.html\">$2.16 trillion<\/a> annual rate in July 2026. That is 0.5 percent below June and 3.8 percent below July 2025.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.enr.com\/articles\/63595-data-centers-power-see-increase-as-total-spending-declines\">Highway and street spending rose 4.5 percent<\/a> year over year. Public construction was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructioncitizen.com\/blog\/agcs-data-digest-aug-31-sept-4\/2609041\">up 1.7 percent<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Private data-center work soared 57 percent year over year. The rest of private nonresidential spending fell 7.3 percent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Construction added 22,000 jobs in August. The jobless rate for people with recent construction experience hit 3.1 percent. That is the lowest in 26 years of the series.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Highway construction jobs still run on graders, dozers, excavators, loaders, and haul trucks. That is civil work, not a data-hall recap.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Employers may only let people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-29\/subtitle-B\/chapter-XVII\/part-1926\/subpart-C\/section-1926.20\">qualified by training or experience<\/a> run the machines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">July&#8217;s Census report is not a hiring freeze. Total spend fell. Highway and street work did not. If you want heavy equipment operator jobs that last more than one boom cycle, read the split, not the headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Census Bureau posted the July 2026 construction-spend figures on September 1. Total work put in place ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,157.6 billion. Private residential led the drop. Public highway work did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The July split most headlines bury<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A &#8220;construction is down&#8221; story is true for the total. It is false for the machines that build roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highway and street spending increased 4.5 percent from July 2025. Public construction as a whole rose 1.7 percent year over year. Public highway construction sat at a $150.3 billion annual rate in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is the civil book. State DOT jobs, county overlays, and reconstruction. Not speculative offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Category (July 2026)<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Change<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>What it means in the cab<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total construction spending<\/td><td>Down 3.8% year over year<\/td><td>The national total is not your job board.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Highway and street<\/td><td>Up 4.5% year over year<\/td><td>Graders, dozers, excavators, and haul work stay busy.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Public construction<\/td><td>Up 1.7% year over year<\/td><td>Tax-funded work moves on a different clock than housing.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Data-center construction<\/td><td>Up 57% year over year<\/td><td>Real, but already covered as a private boom.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>All other private nonresidential<\/td><td>Down 7.3% year over year<\/td><td>Warehouses and offices are not the same as a DOT job.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Manufacturing construction<\/td><td>Down 21.2% year over year<\/td><td>Tough year-ago comps. Do not read it as &#8220;no dirt work.&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ABC&#8217;s Anirban Basu said the July bump in nonresidential spend was entirely due to data centers. We already wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/the-data-center-construction-boom-what-it-means-for-heavy-equipment-operators\/\">what that boom means for heavy equipment operators<\/a>. This post is the other stack. Roads that still get funded when housing slows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Where highway construction jobs actually sit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highway construction jobs are operator seats on public-works dirt. Cut, fill, drainage, base, and finish grade before paving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They cluster around state DOT lettings, not around one campus. A WisDOT overlay in Dane County and a Texas Interstate rebuild both need the same machine types. The pay and the per diem change. The cab work does not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Construction employment in August totaled 8,359,000. That is 22,000 above July. Nonresidential specialty trades kept adding. The unemployment rate for people with recent construction experience was 3.1 percent. AGC calls that the lowest reading in the 26-year history of the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Open seats still exist. BLS counted 326,000 construction job openings at the end of July. Hires rose. Layoffs fell. That is not a shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/regional-construction-trends-where-the-jobs-are-growing-fastest\/\">Regional construction trends<\/a> still matter more than one national chart. Houston added the most construction jobs year over year in AGC&#8217;s metro cut. Riverside, California lost some. Your state&#8217;s DOT bid list is a better map than a cable-news recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal highway money is not a 2021 talking point anymore. It is work in the ground. We covered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/infrastructure-bill-impact-how-government-spending-affects-heavy-equipment-jobs\/\">infrastructure bill&#8217;s effect on equipment jobs<\/a> when the pipeline was still filling. July&#8217;s Census print is the proof that highway and street spend is still growing after the headline total turned down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What machines this work still runs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Road construction jobs are a crew, not a single specialty. Earthwork comes first. Paving comes last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A typical sequence on a reconstruction job looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Excavators and dozers<\/strong> strip, cut, and move dirt. Culverts and undercuts happen here.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scrapers and loaders<\/strong> haul and place material when the haul is long.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Motor graders<\/strong> cut crown, shoulder, and finish grade. The paving crew lives with that surface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dump trucks<\/strong> move millings, base, and spoil. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/truck_driver_training.php\">Class A CDL<\/a> helps if you also pull a pup or a lowboy between sites.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finish grade is where new operators get honest. A tenth of a foot on a county road shows up in ponding. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/motor-grader-operator-training-skills-salary-and-career-path\/\">motor grader operator training<\/a> guide covers moldboard work, GPS, and why graders sit later in a program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ATS&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/heavy_equipment_training.php\">heavy equipment training<\/a> covers that mix. Backhoe, excavator, dozer, loader, skid steer, scraper, road grader, and rough-terrain forklift. Highway contractors do not hire &#8220;the data-center person.&#8221; They hire someone who can hold grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OSHA does not issue a federal license for a grader or a dozer. The rule is simpler. The employer may permit only people qualified by training or experience to operate equipment. Documented seat time is how you prove that on a DOT job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is construction slowing down, or is housing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Housing is the drag. Single-family and improvements led the July drop. Private residential spend was down 7.3 percent year over year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Power construction was up 5.3 percent year over year, helped by electricity demand from data halls. That site work still uses the same earthmoving fleet. It is not a reason to skip road skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Average hourly earnings for construction production workers hit $39.36 in August. That is 21 percent above the private-sector average. Pay is not collapsing with the total-spend line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The catch is the same as last week&#8217;s survey story. Firms still have craft openings. They still screen for skills. A walk-on with no training loses to someone who can read stakes and not tear up a subgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Career Services at ATS can help with a resume and employer leads after you train. You still take the interview. Highway shops check drug tests, tickets, and whether you stay past 90 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From Sun Prairie, the local picture is WisDOT and county highway work across southern Wisconsin. Freeze-thaw wrecks gravel roads. Graders earn their keep in winter as well as in paving season. That climate is why finish-grade skill travels. A crown that drains in Dane County is the same skill as a crown that drains in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are switching careers this fall, do not wait for &#8220;construction&#8221; to look hot on a national chart. Watch DOT lettings. Watch highway and street spend. Get on the machines those jobs actually run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/training_dates.php\">upcoming training dates<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/application.php\">apply online<\/a>, or call ATS at <strong>(800) 383-7364<\/strong>. Ask how the heavy equipment sequence maps to road work, not to a news headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: Are highway construction jobs still hiring if total construction spending is down?<\/strong> A: Yes. July 2026 total spend fell 3.8 percent year over year, but highway and street spending rose 4.5 percent. Public construction was also up 1.7 percent. Road work is not the same cycle as housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: What equipment do I need to know for road construction jobs?<\/strong> A: Start with excavators, dozers, loaders, and a motor grader for finish grade. Dump-truck work is common on mill-and-overlay jobs. A CDL helps if you also haul between sites. Multi-machine training matches how highway crews actually staff a shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: Do I need a license to run a grader or dozer on a DOT job?<\/strong> A: There is no federal operator license for those machines. OSHA requires the employer to allow only people qualified by training or experience. Contractors still want documented training before they put you on a public job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q: Should I chase data-center sites instead of highway work?<\/strong> A: Data-center construction was up 57 percent year over year, so those sites are real. Highway and street work is the broader, tax-funded book that kept growing while the national total fell. The earthmoving skill set overlaps. Do not train for only one headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/construction\/c30\/current\/index.html\">U.S. Census Bureau: Monthly Construction Spending, July 2026<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.enr.com\/articles\/63595-data-centers-power-see-increase-as-total-spending-declines\">ENR: Data Centers, Power See Increase as Total Spending Declines<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructioncitizen.com\/blog\/agcs-data-digest-aug-31-sept-4\/2609041\">AGC Data DIGest, Aug. 31-Sept. 4, 2026 (via Construction Citizen)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-29\/subtitle-B\/chapter-XVII\/part-1926\/subpart-C\/section-1926.20\">eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.20 General safety and health provisions<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/construction\/c30\/pdf\/totsa.pdf\">Census: Construction Spending tables (seasonally adjusted)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Total construction spend fell in July 2026. Highway and street work rose 4.5%. Here&#8217;s what that means for operator jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-15726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-associated-training-services","entry","no-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15727,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726\/revisions\/15727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15726"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operator-school.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=15726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}