WASHINGTON, May 4—Associated Builders and Contractors member contractors invested $1.6 billion to provide more than 1.3 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education in 2021, according to its 2022 Workforce Development Survey, up from $1.3 billion in 2020. The annual assessment quantifies the scope of ABC members’ workforce development initiatives to advance their employees’ careers in commercial and industrial construction to build the places where Americans live, work, learn, heal and play.  

WASHINGTON, April 28—The U.S. economy contracted at a 1.4% annualized rate during the first quarter of 2022. Investment in nonresidential structures declined at an annual rate of 0.9% during the quarter and has contracted nine of the past 10 quarters, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

WASHINGTON, April 26—Associated Builders and Contractors today applauded a letter sent to President Joe Biden by 16 Republican governors, led by Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Bill Lee of Tennessee, opposing the Biden administration’s policies promoting government-mandated project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects.

WASHINGTON, April 27—The not seasonally adjusted national construction unemployment rate dropped 2.6% in March 2022 from a year ago, down from 8.6% to 6%, while 45 states had lower unemployment rates over the same period, according to a state-by-state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released today by Associated Builders and Contractors. This considerable improvement occurred as cases of the omicron variant fell and many states began lifting some or all of their COVID-19 restrictions.

WASHINGTON, April 19—Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck today issued the following statement on the final National Environmental Policy Act rule.

WASHINGTON, April 29—Associated Builders and Contractors today unveiled its 2022 Safety Performance Report, an annual, comprehensive study of the impact of the STEP Safety Management System and guide to safety best practices on construction jobsites. STEP is a proven system, more than 30 years old, that enables top-performing members to achieve incident rates 645% safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics construction industry average. The annual study is published to coincide with Construction Safety Week, May 2-6.

WASHINGTON, April 13—Construction input prices rose 2.9% in March, 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 expanded 2.8% for the month.

WASHINGTON, April 12—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator increased to 8.3 months in March, according to an ABC member survey conducted Mar. 22 to April 5. The reading is up 0.5 months from March 2021.

WASHINGTON, April 6—Today, Associated Builders and Contractors sent the White House a letter with more than 1,200 signatures from member companies and chapters representing the construction industry strongly opposing President Biden’s executive order mandating project labor agreements on federal public works projects exceeding $35 million.

WASHINGTON, April 1—National nonresidential construction spending was down 0.1% in February, 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 $844.5 billion for the month.

WASHINGTON, April 1—The construction industry added 19,000 jobs on net in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. After 23 months of recovery, construction employment has at last exceeded pre-pandemic levels. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 220,000 jobs, an increase of 3.0%.