ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator is the only economic indicator that reflects the amount of work that will be performed by commercial and industrial construction contractors in the months ahead. The Construction Confidence Index is a diffusion index that signals construction contractors’ expectations for sales, profit margins and staffing levels. View the methodology for both indicators. 

 

News Releases

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News Releases

WASHINGTON, March 30—Associated Builders and Contractors and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention today announced a collaborative partnership to address mental health and suicide prevention throughout the U.S. construction industry.

SAN ANTONIO, March 18—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the winners of its annual Construction Management Competition at ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio, March 15-17. Fourteen teams of undergraduate students from colleges and universities nationwide competed this year, and Colorado State University was named the overall winner of the 2022 competition, with the highest cumulative points in the five competition categories.

SAN ANTONIO, March 18—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the winners of the 2022 National Craft Championships and the ABC Construction Management Competition. The winners were honored on the last day of ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio on March 17.

SAN ANTONIO, March 18—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the winners of the 2022 National Craft Championships at its Careers in Construction Awards ceremony during ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio. The 33rd annual competition showcases the skills and expertise of more than 200 of the nation’s top-performing craft professionals. 

WASHINGTON, March 15—The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas today dealt a blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to delay and rescind the Trump administration’s 2021 independent contractor final rule in a decision applauded by Associated Builders and Contractors, which had sued to block those actions. Under the court’s decision, the ABC-supported rule went into effect as scheduled on March 8, 2021, and remains in effect today.

WASHINGTON, March 15—Construction input prices increased 2.6% in February compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data released today. Nonresidential construction input prices rose 2.5% for the month.

WASHINGTON, March 15—Construction input prices increased 2.6% in February compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data released today. Nonresidential construction input prices rose 2.5% for the month.

SAN ANTONIO, March 17—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the 37 winning contractors of the 2021 National Safety Excellence Awards for their remarkable achievements in leadership, safety and innovation The awards were presented at the 32nd annual Excellence in Construction® Awards during ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio on March 16.

SAN ANTONIO, March 17—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the winners of the Excellence in Construction® Awards—96 projects worth a total of $3.8 billion—during ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio. The EIC awards are the construction industry’s leading national competition that honors general and specialty contractors for world-class, safe and innovative construction projects from across the nation.

WASHINGTON, March 11—Associated Builders and Contractors today released the following statement from Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, in reaction to the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule, Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations. The 1931 Davis-Bacon Act and related regulations require contractors and subcontractors that perform work on federal and federally funded construction projects to pay a government-determined prevailing wage and benefit rate on an hourly basis to on-site construction workers. The Davis-Bacon Act and 71 active related acts collectively apply to an estimated $217 billion in federal and federally assisted construction spending per year and provide government-determined wage rates for an estimated 1.2 million U.S. construction workers.

WASHINGTON, March 15—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator remained unchanged at 8.0 months in February, according to an ABC member survey conducted Feb. 21 to March 8. The reading is down 0.2 months from February 2021.

SAN ANTONIO, March 17—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the award winners in Excellence in Construction,® Safety Excellence and Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Excellence and Contractor of the Year. The winners were announced March 16 at ABC Convention 2022 during the 32nd annual Excellence in Construction Awards Gala.

SAN ANTONIO, March 17—Associated Builders and Contractors today named United Group Services, headquartered in West Chester, Ohio, its 2022 Contractor of the Year. This award recognizes contractor companies for corporate integrity and commitment to safety, professional development and expert craftsmanship. The award was presented at the 32nd annual Excellence in Construction® Awards gala on March 16 during ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO, March 17—Associated Builders and Contractors has named the winners of the 2021 National Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Excellence Awards, an annual recognition of ABC members that display exemplary IDE leadership in their company, workforce, supply chain and community with best-in-class recruitment policies, retention practices and training and mentoring programs. The winners were honored at the 32nd annual Excellence in Construction® Awards at ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio on March 16.  

WASHINGTON, March 8—Associated Builders and Contractors today released the following statement criticizing a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. departments of Labor and Transportation advancing workforce policy initiatives on DOT-funded infrastructure projects, including controversial project labor agreements.

SAN ANTONIO, March 16—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced the winners of its annual, national Construction Workforce Awards, which includes Craft Instructor of the Year, Craft Professional of the Year and Young Professional of the Year. The winners were announced March 15, the first day of ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO, March 16—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced Luke Perry, vice president at Perry Contracting, Cincinnati, received ABC’s 2022 Young Professional of the Year Award. Perry was honored at ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio on March 15.

SAN ANTONIO, March 16—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced Adam Haywood, electrical foreman and safety officer at Premier Power LLC, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was named the 2022 Craft Professional of the Year. Haywood was honored at ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio on March 15.

SAN ANTONIO, March 16—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced Larry Harris, electrical instructor at the Academy of Craft Training in Birmingham, Alabama, was named the 2022 Craft Instructor of the Year. Harris was honored at ABC Convention 2022 in San Antonio on March 15.

WASHINGTON, March 8—Associated Builders and Contractors today released its fourth annual Top Performers lists, which ranks its commercial and industrial contractor members that build long-lasting, high-quality construction projects, based on work hours. 

WASHINGTON, March 4—The construction industry added 60,000 jobs on net in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, the industry has recovered virtually all (99.0%) of the jobs lost during earlier stages of the pandemic.

WASHINGTON, March 1 — National nonresidential construction spending was up 1.3% in January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $838.9 billion for the month.

WASHINGTON, March 1—Associated Builders and Contractors issued the following statement from Michael Bellaman, its president and CEO, in reaction to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28—Today, Associated Builders and Contractors and a coalition of 19 associations and organizations representing the construction industry and business community sent a letter to Congress expressing support for the Fair and Open Competition Act (S. 403/H.R. 1284), sponsored by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C, and strong opposition to government-mandated project labor agreements.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23—The construction industry will need to attract nearly 650,000 additional workers on top of the normal pace of hiring in 2022 to meet the demand for labor, according to a model developed by Associated Builders and Contractors.

ABC construction economic releases are published according to this schedule in 2023

For media inquiries, please contact Erika Walter, ABC director of media relations, at [email protected].

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