Only 29,000 Jobs Were Added — But Cleaning Still Needs 321,800 People a Year
Hiring stalled nationwide in September, yet janitor pay is up 26.7% in five years, OCS is closing in on Mitie in a £3.1 billion deal, and contractors say they will double their use of robotic floor equipment to cover a labor squeeze that construction is feeling too.
- £3.1B OCS takeover of Mitie, approved by Mitie shareholders
- 29,000 U.S. jobs added in September; unemployment rose to 4.2%
- 321,800 Projected annual openings for janitors & building cleaners
Global
Mitie Shareholders Approve a £3.1 Billion Takeover by OCS
Shareholders of UK facilities services group Mitie approved the cash takeover by OCS at meetings held September 16. The deal, announced in July, would create a facilities group with roughly £8.5 billion in combined annual revenue. Mitie reported first-quarter revenue of £1.41 billion, up 10%, with a record bidding pipeline of £32.5 billion. The deal still needs regulatory clearances and court sanction, and the stated reasons are scale, technology investment, and employee opportunities.
National
Hiring Slows, Yet Janitor Pay Is Up 26.7% in Five Years
The September jobs report showed the U.S. added only 29,000 jobs, far below the roughly 84,000 expected, and unemployment rose to 4.2% from 4.1% — largely because about 485,000 more people joined the labor force, not because of mass layoffs. Hourly pay grew 3.0% against 3.4% inflation. For the cleaning trade, a Nassco analysis of BLS data found the median janitor and building cleaner wage rose 26.7%, from $13.98 in May 2020 to $17.71 in May 2025, with about 321,800 openings projected each year, mostly from workers leaving or retiring rather than new growth.
State Spotlight
Texas: A $7.25 Wage Floor, Fast Job Growth, and a Tight Labor Pool
Texas follows the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, though janitor wages run higher in practice: BLS data (May 2023) put the mean at $14.69/hour in Houston and $15.70/hour in Dallas–Fort Worth. Texas led the nation by adding 159,400 jobs over 12 months, yet Senate Bill 8 (effective January 1, 2026) requires county sheriffs operating jails to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Reporting from late 2025 found about 20% of Texas firms surveyed by the Dallas Fed said immigration policy had hampered or would hamper hiring, and cleaning crews described losing roughly 20% of staff to work-permit cancellations. ISSA's VEO Conference was held September 28–29 in Dallas.
Industry
Contractors Plan to Double Their Robotics as Costs Rise
A Nassco review found 32% of building service contractors plan to adopt robotic floor equipment within 12 months, roughly double 2025; 72.5% expect wage demands to rise and 38.3% expect customers to ask for automation in contracts. In the same research, 69.0% expect overall cleaning costs to increase. ISSA and Tork launched a 30-minute English–Spanish frontline training course, citing that 70% of cleaners report inadequate employer support and 38% leave roles over burnout or lack of recognition. IBISWorld projects U.S. janitorial revenue of $112.0 billion in 2026, with wages taking 43.2% of revenue.
Construction & Economy
Data Centers Boom While Factories Cool — and Construction Feels the Same Labor Squeeze
AGC data shows total U.S. construction spending of about $2.20 trillion annualized in August, down 1.7% from a year ago, with data-center construction up 73% while manufacturing construction is down 20%. Construction job openings are up 18% to 251,000 and hourly earnings rose 4.3% against 3.3% for all private industry. In an AGC/NCCER survey of 1,830 firms, 29% of contractors reported at least one effect from immigration enforcement (42% in the South), and 88% of firms with craft openings said they were as hard or harder to fill than a year ago. Our read, not the sources': construction and commercial cleaning compete for the same entry-level workers, data-center growth points to demand for specialized ongoing facility services, and a slower new-build pipeline could mean fewer new cleaning accounts later.
Alert
Texas crews have reported losing about 20% of staff to work-permit cancellations — audit your work-authorization expiration dates now, before a gap opens on your schedule.
The Takeaway
Invisible isn't the same as unimportant. This week's numbers show an industry with hundreds of thousands of openings every year, rising pay, and contractors turning to robots because finding and keeping people is hard — and construction is feeling the same squeeze. Tools can clean a floor route; only people care for a building. That's why seeing the whole workforce picture matters.