As of December 2019, the construction industry employed 143,000 more workers nationally compared to December 2018, while the national NSA construction unemployment rate decreased from 5.1 percent to 5 percent over the same period, according to BLS numbers. 

National nonresidential construction spending declined 0.4% in August, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. 

U.S. construction industry leaders are somewhat less confident about near-term prospects for nonresidential construction but remain reasonably upbeat, according to the June 2019 Construction Confidence Index released by Associated Builders and Contractors.

“Overall economic growth is not slowing as rapidly as feared when the May employment report emerged,” says ABC chief economist Anirban Basu.

Associated Builders and Contractors announced that Greg Sizemore, ABC’s vice president of health, safety, education and workforce development, has been appointed to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. 

ABC applauds passage of Texas law ensuring fair and open competition.

The Associated Builders and Contractors president and CEO Michael Bellaman recently commented on President Trump’s new immigration proposal, which would create a “merit-based” visa system to address the workforce needs of U.S. industries like construction. 

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Year-over-year GDP growth was 3.1 percent, while average growth for 2018 was 2.9 percent.

Construction prices rose 0.5 percent in October and are 7.9 percent high than at the same time a year ago, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data conducted by Associated Builders and Contractors. 

Larry Lopez, president and chief executive officer of Green JobWorks, Baltimore, and chairman of Associated Builders and Contractor’s Diversity Committee, testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access on how recent economic growth is positively impacting local communities.