Contractors Lose Confidence in Q3 but Remain Upbeat

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — While construction industry leaders remained confident in the third quarter of 2018, optimism slipped relative to the second quarter, according to the latest Construction Confidence Index released by Associated Builders and Contractors. Approximately three in four construction firms expect that sales will continue to rise over the next six months and closer to one in 10 expect sales to decline over the next two quarters. Though many firms expect to become even busier, fewer than six in 10 contractors expect profit margins to increase, a reflection of rising human capital, materials prices and other input costs. Despite […]

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Construction Employment Rises November 2017-18 Year-Over-Year

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Forty-two states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between November 2017 and November 2018, while 23 states added construction jobs between October and November, according to a new analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data. Association officials said extremely low unemployment rates in most of the nation have made it hard for contractors in many states to continue adding workers, despite strong demand for projects. “November was the first month this year in which fewer than half the states experienced monthly increases in construction employment,” stated chief economist Ken Simonson. “At a time […]

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Price of Construction Materials Declines in November, ABC Predicts Moderate Increases in Early 2019

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Construction materials prices fell 1.8 percent in November, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors’ recent analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Despite the monthly decline, materials prices are still 5.3 percent higher than they were on a year-over-year basis. Nonresidential construction input prices fell 1.7 percent for the month, and are up 5.8 percent compared to the same time last year. Prices declined in five of 11 subcategories, with crude petroleum (down 29.5 percent) and unprocessed energy materials (down 11.5 percent) experiencing the largest decreases. Only natural gas recorded a substantial increase in price: up 15 percent […]

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Three-Quarters of Contractors Believe Advanced Technologies may Alleviate Workforce Challenges, Improve Productivity

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Q4 2018 USG Corporation + U.S. Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index recently released indicates that, despite staunch concerns over labor shortages and skilled workers, three-quarters of contractors believe advanced technologies may improve labor productivity on jobsites. According to the Q4 report, while just over half of contractors currently use technologies like drones, equipment tagging, wearable technology and augmented/virtual reality for their projects, 74 percent anticipate adopting such technologies over the next three years. Moreover, 58 percent of contractors also reported difficulty finding skilled workers – the highest level reported in 2018 – suggesting that as builders look for […]

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ABC Predicts Construction Sector Will Remain Strong in 2019

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu forecasts another strong year for construction sector performance, yet warns about inflationary pressures, according to a recently published 2019 economic outlook. Job growth, high backlog and healthy infrastructure investment all spell good news for the industry. However, historically low unemployment has created a construction workforce shortage of an estimated 500,000 positions, which is leading to increased compensation costs. “U.S. economic performance has been brilliant of late. Sure, there has been a considerable volume of negativity regarding the propriety of tariffs, shifting immigration policy, etc., but the headline statistics make […]

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