Contractors added an estimated 15,000 jobs overall in June, marking construction’s second-strongest monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, only one sector—specialty trade contractors—showed overall job gains, with these firms collectively adding an estimated 18,400 positions during June.

Meanwhile, building contractors showed a decline of 900 jobs, with residential firms shedding an estimated 500 positions, and nonresidential contractors reporting 400 few jobs. Also reporting an overall jobs decline was the heavy and civil engineering sector, which saw a drop of 2,800 positions, according to BLS.

Construction industry economists, while praising June’s overall positive numbers, noted that several factors contributing to economic uncertainty are limiting further growth.

“While many will cheer this jobs report, some construction firm leaders may not be among that group,” Anirban Basu, chief economist with Associated Builders and Contractors, said in a press release. “June’s employment report, coupled with recent inflation data, indicate that the U.S. economy continues to demonstrate solid momentum, stable unemployment and declining inflation.”

However, there’s a downside.

“While abating fears of recession are comforting, these data effectively slammed the door shut on a July Federal Reserve interest rate cut,” Basu continued. “A growing fraction of contractors is experiencing weakness in backlog as projects are postponed in an uncertain economic environment coupled with stubbornly elevated borrowing costs.”

Additionally, Basu remarked that recent increases in construction materials prices “will drive up construction delivery costs, render more projects uneconomical and diminish contractor margins. Shifting immigration policy stands to reinforce these dynamics.”

Macrina Wilkins, senior research analyst for the Associated General Contractors of America, commented similarly, noting in a press release: “Today’s construction employment numbers show firms are eager to find and hire workers even amid broader market uncertainty. Hiring is holding up better than expected, especially with upward revisions to prior months’ data, as persistent labor shortages prompt firms to hire when they can.”

Jeffrey D. Shoaf, AGC’s chief executive officer, echoed those assessments, summing up the situation this way: “Anything that provides more certainty for the economy should help bring more private-sector developers off the bench and boost demand for construction.”