Jobs Report Offers Reasons for Hope and Concern for Construction Industry, ABC Says

  • Posted on

WASHINGTON, D.C. — National construction employment added 11,000 net new jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in May according to analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by Associated Builders and Contractors. The nonresidential construction sector added 4,400 net new jobs in May after losing 1,000 net jobs in April (revised down from a net increase of 3,200 jobs), while the residential sector added 7,100 net jobs for the month. Overall construction employment expanded 2.9 percent on yearly basis, well above the year-over-year growth rate of 1.6 percent for all nonfarm industries. “Today’s jobs numbers supply a mixture … Read more

Filed under: Economic NewsTagged with: , ,

Construction Unemployment Rates Improve in 22 States, ABC Says

  • Posted on

WASHINGTON, D.C. — April not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rates were down in 22 states and unchanged in two (Arkansas and California) on a year-over-year basis, according to analysis released by Associated Builders and Contractors. However, the national NSA construction unemployment rate of 6.3 percent was up .3 percent from April 2016, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since these industry-specific rates are not seasonally adjusted, national and state-level unemployment rates are best evaluated on a year-over-year basis. “Despite the year-over-year increase, this was the third lowest national not seasonally adjusted April construction unemployment rate on … Read more

Filed under: Economic NewsTagged with: ,

Construction Job Growth Led by Nonresidential Sector, But Remains Tepid

  • Posted on

WASHINGTON, D.C. — National construction employment remained largely unchanged for the second consecutive month, adding 5,000 net new jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in April, according to analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by Associated Builders and Contractors. The nonresidential construction sector added 3,200 net new jobs in April after adding 8,500 net jobs in March (revised down from 13,300), while the residential sector added just 900 net jobs for the month. Construction employment expanded 2.6 percent on yearly basis, well above the year-over-year growth rate for all nonfarm industries (+1.6 percent). “Today’s employment report confirms … Read more

Filed under: Economic NewsTagged with: , ,

Construction Input Prices Moderate in March, Energy Prices Down

  • Posted on

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Construction input prices rose for the fourth consecutive month in March, increasing by .3 percent on a monthly basis and 4.4 percent on a yearly basis, according to analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data recently released by Associated Builders and Contractors. Nonresidential construction input prices performed similarly, increasing by .4 percent for the month and 4.4 percent for the year. Energy-related inputs experienced a sharp decline in prices for the month, with natural gas prices decreasing by 30 percent and crude petroleum prices falling by 10.8 percent. That said, those two inputs have increased by … Read more

Filed under: Economic NewsTagged with: , ,

Associated Builders and Contractors Celebrates National Safety Week

  • Posted on

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Associated Builders and Contractors celebrates Safety Week 2017 with a call for the construction industry to pledge support for substance abuse prevention and implement additional safety processes that lead to world-class safety performance. According to a recent ABC report, member construction firms with a substance abuse program in place reduce their incident rates by more than one-third compared to the industry average, and those that implement proactive best practices in 20 key safety components reduce recordable incidents by up to 87 percent. “Associated Builders and Contractors believes that every jobsite incident is preventable, and that it is … Read more

Filed under: SafetyTagged with: , ,