ABC Announces 2025 Craft, Construction Management National Champions

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Associated Builders and Contractors has named the winners of the 2025 ABC Construction Management Competition and the 36th annual National Craft Championships. The national craft championships celebrate and recognize upskilling in construction, drawing some of the country’s most talented craft professionals and highlighting the important role that craft skills training plays in the construction industry. Craft students and apprentices from across the country traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to demonstrate their superior skills and safe work practices and compete for top honors. The NCC featured 15 competitions with skills from nearly 200 craft professionals on display in 11 crafts. Click … Read more

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ABC: Construction Materials Prices Increase 1.4% in January, Up 40.5% Since February 2020

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Construction input prices increased 1.4% in January compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices increased 0.9% for the month. Overall construction input prices are 1.3% higher than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 0.7% higher. Prices increased in all three energy subcategories last month. Crude petroleum prices increased 14.8%, while natural gas and unprocessed energy material prices increased 13.7% and 13.0%, respectively. “Materials prices increased at the fastest monthly pace in two years in January,” said ABC … Read more

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ABC: All but 3 States Had Construction Unemployment Rates Below 10% in December 2024

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The national December 2024 not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rate was 5.2%, up 0.8% from December 2023, according to a state-by-state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by Associated Builders and Contractors. The analysis found that only six states had lower estimated construction unemployment rates over the same period and 44 states were higher. All but three states (Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island) had construction unemployment rates below 10%. National NSA payroll construction employment was 191,000 higher than December 2023. As of December 2024, SA payroll construction employment was 701,000, or 9.2%, above its pre-pandemic peak … Read more

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Nonresidential Construction Adds Modest 4,400 Jobs in January

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The construction industry added 4,000 jobs on net in January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 178,000 jobs, an increase of 2.2%.  Nonresidential construction employment increased by 4,400 positions on net, with growth in 2 of the 3 subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, increasing by 5,600 positions, followed by nonresidential building, which added 1,100 jobs. Heavy and civil engineering lost 2,300 jobs last month. The construction unemployment rate rose to 6.5% in January. Unemployment across all industries … Read more

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ABC: Data Centers, Manufacturing Make Up 94% of Construction Spending Increase in 2024

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National nonresidential construction spending decreased .2% in December 2024, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.241 trillion. Spending was down on a monthly basis in 9 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending increased .1%, while public nonresidential construction spending was down .5% in December. According to ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu, public sector nonresidential spending fell sharply in in the last month of 2024, but that decline, he said, was likely a short-term phenomenon as the transition between presidential … Read more

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