ABC Initiates Safe and Healthy Construction Pledge

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Associated Builders and Contractors recently launched the Safe and Healthy Construction Pledge, an industry-wide call to action to redouble construction jobsite safety commitments under new protocols due to the coronavirus outbreak. Open to all U.S. contractors and industry associations, the pledge calls for prevention, preparedness and response plans to prevent injuries and disease and safeguard total human health. “The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the critical need for leadership commitment to construction worker safety and health by every contractor in America,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC’s vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “While ABC members are already evaluating and … Read more

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Safety Best Practices Can Make Construction Companies 827% Safer, says ABC Report

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Associated Builders and Contractors released its 2020 Safety Performance Report, an annual assessment that furthers the construction industry’s understanding of how to achieve world-class safety through its STEP Safety Management System. Published in conjunction with National Safety Month, the report documents the dramatic impact of using proactive safety practices to reduce recordable incidents by up to 88%, making the best-performing companies 827% safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics industry average. “Based on real contractors doing real work, ABC’s annual Safety Performance Report outlines how safety best practices and performance measurement can drastically improve jobsite safety,” said Greg Sizemore, … Read more

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From All Systems Go to Deep Recession in 1 Month, Reports ABC

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Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu warned the economic recovery following the COVID-19 outbreak would be quite different for the nonresidential construction industry compared to previous recessions, according to a recently published economic outlook. Normally, construction backlog, which stood at 8.2 months in February, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator, safeguards the nonresidential construction sector from the early stages of economic downturns, making it the last segment to enter a recession. However, given project shutdowns in parts of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California, as well as social distancing and other health requirements, that hasn’t proved true. “Projects are being … Read more

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Drop in April Construction Input Prices Could Help Stabilize Nonresidential Construction Sector, Says ABC

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Construction input prices fell 4.4% in April from 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 declined 4.2% for the month. Among 11 subcategories, nine experienced monthly price declines. All three energy subcategories considered in this release were lower in April, with crude petroleum down 48.9%, unprocessed energy materials down 27.5% and natural gas down 20.4%. The only subcategories that didn’t experience monthly price decreases were plumbing fixtures and fittings, which remained virtually unchanged, and concrete products, which increased 0.1%. “There has been … Read more

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COVID-19 Cuts Nonresidential Construction Employment in March, Says ABC

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Construction industry employment declined by 29,000 in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonresidential construction employment declined by 24,600 in March. All three nonresidential segments registered job losses, with the largest decrease experienced in nonresidential building (-10,700) followed closely by heavy and civil engineering (-10,200). Nonresidential specialty trade lost 3,700 jobs on net. The construction unemployment rate was 6.9% in March, up 1.7 percentage points from the same time one year ago. Unemployment across all industries rose from 3.5% in February to 4.4% last month, a direct … Read more

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