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WHERE THE JOBS ARE: CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

President Biden Signs 1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

by NPR

Everything In The $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill: New Roads, Electric School Buses And More

Nov 15, 2021,04:25pm EST

Updated Apr 21, 2022, 09:31am EDT

KEY FACTS

Roads and bridges: Headlining the 2,702-page bill’s spending, roughly $110 billion of new funds would go toward improving the nation's roads and bridges, and investments in other major transportation programs.

Public transit: The package also includes the largest-ever federal investment in public transit, allotting $39 billion to modernize systems, improve access for the elderly and people with disabilities, and repair more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 railcars and thousands of miles of train tracks.

Amtrak: The legislation marks the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago, with $66 billion earmarked for high-speed rail, safety improvements, Amtrak grants and modernization of the rail route connecting Washington, D.C., to Boston.

Broadband internet: Tacking on to billions authorized by last year’s American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill includes $65 billion to bolster the country's broadband infrastructure and help ensure that every American has access to high-speed internet, with one in four households expected to be eligible for a $30-per-month subsidy to pay for internet access.

Electric grid and energy: Though many clean-energy measures were cut from the bill to satisfy spending-weary lawmakers, a $108 billion investment will help upgrade the nation’s electricity grid, with thousands of miles of new transmission lines and funds for environmentally friendly smart-grid technology.

Electric cars, buses and ferries: In addition to $7.5 billion for the nation’s first network of electric-vehicle chargers along highway corridors, lawmakers have shored up $5 billion for zero-emission buses (including thousands of electric school buses) and $2.5 billion for ferries.

Clean drinking water: Following high-profile water-supply crises plaguing cities like Flint, Michigan, the legislation includes a provision for $55 billion to replace all the nation's lead pipes and service lines, representing the largest investment in clean drinking water ever.

Great rivers and lakes: Among the bill's more than $50 billion for water infrastructure improvements, about $1 billion is slated to go toward the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a sweeping clean-up measure targeting toxic hot spots—or areas of heavy industrial pollution—around the Great Lakes region, and $17 billion will be allocated to ports and waterways.

Airports: More than $25 billion has been allocated to help modernize America's airports—funds the Airports Council International says will help tackle more than $115 billion worth of project backlogs.

Road safety: The deal invests $11 billion in transportation safety programs, including a new program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities in their communities, particularly among cyclists and pedestrians.

Normal funding: In addition to the $550 billion in new investments, the package also includes roughly $650 billion in previously authorized funding for roads and other infrastructure, including nearly $300 billion for the Highway Trust Fund and $90 billion for public transit over the next five years.

NEWS PEG

Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Monday afternoon, nearly two weeks after it passed the House in a vote of 228 to 206, with 13 Republicans joining 215 Democrats in support of the bill. The Senate first approved the bill in August. "America is moving again," Biden said before signing the bill Monday. The president also announced Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, and Mitch Landrieu, a former mayor of New Orleans, will lead a task force overseeing how infrastructure funds are distributed and implemented.

TANGENT

Though Biden first released his infrastructure proposal in March, months of bipartisan negotiations yielded about $800 billion in cost cuts. Lawmakers ultimately agreed to cut the infrastructure bill's investments by as much as 50% across the board, with overall transportation funding settling at about $312 billion, from $621 billion originally proposed, and water and power funds falling from $210 billion to about $125 billion.

KEY BACKGROUND

Despite its bipartisan support, the sweeping infrastructure measure faced tough opposition from both sides of the aisle. For months, Senate Democrats eager to bolster clean-energy funding hashed it out with Republicans queasy over heightened spending, until finally agreeing on a slimmed-down proposal in June. However, House progressives then threatened to withhold support for the bill if lawmakers didn't also move forward with Biden's separate Build Back Better budget proposal, which would authorize spending for Democratic priorities that didn't make it into the infrastructure package. Though Democrats hope to use the Senate's special reconciliation process to pass the budget without Republican support, moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) both balked at the originally proposed price tag of $3.5 trillion, citing concerns over heightened spending. Thus far, negotiations have yielded a less costly $1.8 trillion proposal.

BIG NUMBER

$256 billion. That's how much the Congressional Budget Office estimates the infrastructure bill could add to the nation's budget deficit over the next 10 years, meaning nearly half of the package's proposed new spending could end up tacked on to the nation's $29 trillion debt load. When announcing the proposal in July, the White House said the new spending would be funded with more than $250 billion in unspent Covid-19 relief funds, strengthened tax enforcement, new revenues and "other bipartisan measures." It did not mention additional debt.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The House earlier this month cleared the way for a vote on the Build Back Better budget proposal as soon as this week, but even if the bill makes it past the lower chamber, Manchin and Sinema have yet to explicitly support it. Earlier this month, Manchin said Democrats "must allow time for complete transparency and analysis" on the bill before moving it forward, joining other moderates in demanding the Congressional Budget Office release its financial analysis of the bill before a vote on the matter. On Monday, CBO said it would publish its full assessment by the end of Friday.

Builders Education Training on the Move - New Report

NBR - October 31, 2017

United States Construction Market Outlook 2018-2022 - Output Value Expected to Rise at a CAGR of 2.22% Over the Forecast Period

June 25, 2019 07:35 ET | Source: Research and Markets

Dublin, June 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Construction in the US - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the US construction industry, including:

The US construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity.
Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, as well as an analysis of key risks and opportunities in the US construction industry.
Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, focusing on development stages and participants, in addition to listings of major projects in the pipeline.

The US construction industry suffered a downturn in 2017, contracting by 1% in real terms that year, following an average annual growth of 5% during the preceding four years. This decline can be attributed to the slowdown in non-residential buildings construction activity and the decline in the government's outlay on major infrastructure projects.

The country's construction industry is expected to record positive growth over the forecast period (2018-2022), driven by the government's plans to revamp the country's depleted infrastructure. In addition, public and private sector investments in residential, commercial, healthcare and educational infrastructure construction projects are expected to support growth in the industry over the forecast period.

In February 2018, the White House released its infrastructure initiative, under which the Trump administration seeks to provide US$200 billion in the next ten years to spur a projected US$1.5 trillion in states, local governments and private sector investment to rebuild what Trump called America's crumbling infrastructure.

The industry's output value in real terms is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.22% over the forecast period, compared to 3.8% during the review period (2013-2017).

Key Highlights

We expect the residential construction market to retain its leading position over the forecast period, with a share of 46.5% of the industry's total value in 2022. Market growth over the forecast period is expected to be supported by rising residential buildings permits in the country. The government's focus on affordable houses is also expected to support the market growth over the forecast period.
The government's focus to rebuild and modernize the country's aging infrastructure is expected to drive infrastructure construction market growth over the forecast period. In February 2018, the White House released its infrastructure initiative, under which the Trump administration seeks to provide US$200 billion in the next ten years to spur a projected US$1.5 trillion in state, local governments and private sector investment to rebuild US infrastructure.
Over the forecast period, the energy and utilities construction market is expected to be supported by the government's investment in transmission and distribution construction projects. In its 2018-2019 Budget, the Trump administration proposed US$30.7 billion for the Energy Department, a 2% increase from the fiscal year 2017-2018.
According to American Society of Civil Engineers estimates, the country requires US$3.6 trillion to repair, upgrade and modify its aging transport infrastructure by 2020. Accordingly, under the Airport Improvement Program, the government plans to invest US$3.2 billion for the development and modernization of airports in the country.
The total construction project pipeline in the US stands at US$629.3 billion. The pipeline, which includes all projects from pre-planning to execution, is skewed towards late stage projects, with 62.1% of the pipeline value being in projects in the pre-execution and execution stages as of October 2018.

New Construction Starts in 2017 to Increase 5% to $713 Billion According to Dodge Data & Analytics

Article-2017

October 20, 2016

Dodge Outlook Report Predicts Moderate Growth for Most Project Types – Single Family Housing, Commercial and Institutional Building, and Public Works, While Multifamily Housing Levels Off and Electric Utilities/Gas Plants Decline

National Harbor, MD – October 20, 2016 – Dodge Data & Analytics (http://www.construction.com) today released its 2017 Dodge Construction Outlook, a mainstay in construction industry forecasting and business planning. The report predicts that total U.S. construction starts for 2017 will advance 5% to $713 billion, following gains of 11% in 2015 and an estimated 1% in 2016.

“The U.S. construction industry has witnessed signs of deceleration in 2016, following several years of steady growth,” stated Robert Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. “Total construction starts during the first half of this year lagged behind what was reported in 2015, raising some concern that the current construction expansion may have run its course. However, the early 2016 shortfall reflected the comparison to unusually elevated activity during the first half of 2015, lifted by 13 very large projects valued each at $1 billion or more, such as a $9 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and a $2.5 billion office tower in New York City. As 2016 has proceeded, the year-to-date shortfall has grown smaller, easing concern that the construction industry may be in the early stage of cyclical decline. Instead, the construction industry has now entered a more mature phase of its expansion, one that is characterized by slower rates of growth than what took place during the 2012-2015 period, but still growth. Since the construction start statistics will lead the pattern of construction spending, this means that construction spending can be expected to see moderate gains through 2017 and beyond.”

“On balance, there are a number of positive factors which suggest the construction expansion has room to proceed. The U.S. economy in 2017 is anticipated to see moderate job growth, market fundamentals for commercial real estate should remain generally healthy, and more funding support is coming from state and local bond measures. Although the global economy in 2017 will remain sluggish, energy prices appear to have stabilized, interest rate hikes will be gradual and few, and a new U.S. President will have been elected. For 2017, total construction starts are forecast to rise 5% to $713 billion. Gains of 8% are expected for both residential building and nonresidential building, while nonbuilding construction slides a further 3%.”

The pattern of construction starts by more specific sectors is the following:

Single family housing will rise 12% in dollars, corresponding to a 9% increase in units to 795,000 (Dodge basis). Access to home mortgage loans is improving, and some of the caution exercised by potential homebuyers will ease with continued employment growth and low mortgage rates. Older members of the Millennial generation are now moving into the 30 to 35 year-old age bracket, which should begin to lift demand for single family housing.
Multifamily housing will be flat in dollars and down 2% in units to 435,000 (Dodge basis). This project type now appears to have peaked in 2015, lifted in particular by an exceptional amount of activity in the New York NY metropolitan area, which is now settling back. Continued growth for multifamily housing in other metropolitan areas, along with still generally healthy market fundamentals, will enable the retreat at the national level to stay gradual.
Commercial building will increase 6% on top of the 12% gain estimated for 2016. Office construction is showing improvement from very low levels, lifted by the start of several signature office towers and broad development efforts in downtown markets. Store construction should show some improvement from a very subdued 2016, and warehouses will register further growth. Hotel construction, while still healthy, will begin to retreat after a strong 2016.
Institutional building will advance 10%, resuming its expansion after pausing in 2015 and 2016. The educational facilities category is seeing an increasing amount of K-12 school construction, supported by the passage of recent school construction bond measures. More growth is expected for the amusement category (convention centers, sports arenas, casinos) and transportation terminals.
Manufacturing plant construction will increase 6%, beginning to recover after steep declines in 2015 and 2016 that reflected the pullback for large petrochemical plant starts.
Public works construction will improve 6%, regaining upward momentum after slipping 3% in 2016. Highways and bridges will derive support from the new federal transportation bill, while environmental works should benefit from the expected passage of the Water Resources Development Act. Natural gas and oil pipeline projects are expected to stay close to the volume that’s been present in 2016.
Electric utilities and gas plants will fall another 29% after the 26% decline in 2016. The lift that had been present in 2015 from new liquefied natural gas export terminals continues to dissipate. Power plant construction, which was supported in 2016 by the extension of investment tax credits, will ease back as new generating capacity comes on line.

The 2017 Dodge Construction Outlook was presented at the 78th annual Outlook Executive Conference held by Dodge Data & Analytics at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. Copies of the report with additional details by building sector can be ordered at http://analyticsstore.construction.com/outlook.html or by calling (800) 591-4462.

About Dodge Data & Analytics

: Dodge Data & Analytics is North America’s leading provider of analytics and software-based workflow integration solutions for the construction industry. Building product manufacturers, architects, engineers, contractors, and service providers leverage Dodge to identify and pursue unseen growth opportunities and execute on those opportunities for enhanced business performance. Whether it’s on a local, regional or national level, Dodge makes the hidden obvious, empowering its clients to better understand their markets, uncover key relationships, size growth opportunities, and pursue those opportunities with success. The company’s construction project information is the most comprehensive and verified in the industry. Dodge is leveraging its 100-year-old legacy of continuous innovation to help the industry meet the building challenges of the future. To learn more, visit www.construction.com.

Media Contact

: Benjamin Gorelick | Spector & Associates +1-212-943-5858, ben@spectorpr.com

CONSTRUCTION FIRMS ADD 1,000 JOBS IN APRIL AND 261,000 FOR THE YEAR AS CONSTRUCTION GROUP LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM TO CONNECT FIRMS WITH WORKERS

ARTICLE-2016

May 6, 2016 Despite Monthly Slowdown, Construction Hiring Outpaced Overall Jobs Market On a Year-Over-Year Basis, New AGC Career Center Will Help Firms Find Qualified Workers Amid Growing Labor Shortages.

Construction employment rose in April by 1,000 for the month and 261,000 for the year as mild winter weather and labor shortages impacted the early spring hiring season for many firms, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that construction spending continues to grow and worker shortages are likely to get worse, which is why they are launching a new online career center to help connect firms with qualified workers.

“Some of the slowdown in hiring last month was due to mild winter weather that allowed contractors to hire or retain workers in the first quarter instead of waiting until spring,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “Yet reports from contractors and recent Census Bureau data on construction spending through March suggest industry demand for workers will remain robust, if firms can find employees with the right skills.”

Construction employment totaled 6,670,000 in April, the highest level since December 2008, and is up by 261,000 jobs compared to a year ago, a 4.1 percent increase. Residential construction—comprising residential building and specialty trade contractors—declined by 3,800 jobs in April but is up by 140,800, or 5.7 percent, compared to a year ago. Nonresidential construction—building, specialty trades, and heavy and civil engineering construction firms--added 4,400 jobs for the month and 120,100 jobs compared to April 2015, a 3.0 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed job seekers in April who last worked in construction totaled 530,000, the lowest April total since 2000. The unemployment rate for such workers was 6.0 percent, a 16-year low for April. As the number of unemployed construction workers continued to decline, average hourly earnings for the construction industry continued to grow, up 2.3 percent compared to April 2015.

Association official noted that many firms report having a hard time finding qualified workers to hire as demand for construction continues to expand. That is why the association is launching a new online job portal for the construction industry called the AGC Career Center. The new site will allow individuals looking for construction jobs to search for postings by location, keywords, categories and experience level and to post their resumes. Employers will be able to post positions, browse resumes and get alerts when new resumes they might be interested in are posted.

“With labor shortages likely to get even more severe, we want to do everything possible to connect qualified workers with firms looking to expand,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “The new career center will make it easier for firms to find workers when they need them.”

For more information about the new AGC Career Center, visit www.agc.org/careers/.

CONSTRUCTION SPENDING POSTS SOLID MONTHLY AND YEAR-OVER-YEAR INCREASES IN MARCH, DRIVEN BY GROWTH IN MANY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE CATEGORIES

ARTICLE TWO-2016

May 2, 2016

Most Private Segments Recorded Strong Gains for the Year as Total Spending Reaches 9-Year High; Key Public-Sector Segments Also Experiences Large Increases, Including Highway and Street Construction

Construction spending increased by 8 percent in March compared to a year earlier and was also up slightly between February and March amid growing demand for many types of construction, as the spending total hit the highest level since October 2007, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said the growth comes amid strong private-sector demand and new federal investments in surface transportation programs.

“Construction should be a significant contributor to economic growth in the remainder of 2016 and beyond,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “Right now the biggest challenge for contractors in many parts of the country is that they are worried about finding enough qualified workers to meet demand.”

Construction spending in March totaled $1.138 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 0.3 percent higher than the revised February total and 8.0 percent higher than in March 2015, Simonson said. Private residential spending increased by 1.6 percent for the month and 8.5 percent compared to twelve months earlier. Spending on multifamily residential construction jumped 5.6 percent for the month and 34.6 percent year-over-year, while single-family spending was flat compared to February but rose 13.4 percent compared to March 2015.

Private nonresidential construction spending increased 0.7 percent for the month and 9.3 percent from a year earlier. Simonson observed that all but one segment increased from 12 months before. The largest private nonresidential segment in March was manufacturing construction, which rose 2.2 percent for the month but dropped 2.0 percent year-over-year. The next-largest segment, power (including oil and gas pipelines), lost 1.8 percent for the month but gained 2.0 percent for the year.

Public construction spending dipped 1.9 percent from a month before but is still up 6.7 percent from 12 months earlier. The biggest public segment—highway and street construction—was up 0.4 percent for the month but is up 18.8 percent year-over-year, as new federal surface transportation investments enacted last year began to impact demand, Simonson noted.

Association officials said the new construction spending figures reinforce anecdotal reports that the industry continues to grow amid robust demand for most types of construction services. But officials warned that labor shortages are likely to become even more severe as construction firms continue to expand unless federal, state and local officials act on the measures outlined in the association’s Workforce Development Plan.

“The new spending data, combined with recent employment reports, make it clear that the construction industry is growing faster than the broader U.S. economy,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “But unless firms have enough workers to keep pace with demand, construction schedules are likely to slow as firms are forced to cope with labor shortages.”