WASHINGTON, Aug. 29—Associated Builders and Contractors today issued the following statement opposing the U.S. Department of Labor‘s proposed rulemaking that would alter overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposal increases the minimum salary level threshold to $55,068 annually for a full-year worker and automatically updates the threshold every three years.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29—Associated Builders and Contractors issued a statement from Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Aug. 29 final rule further revising the definition of “waters of the United States.”

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29—The U.S. Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service today released a proposed rule and FAQs on provisions of the ABC-opposed Inflation Reduction Act, which will affect the developers, contractors and workers that are building clean energy projects eligible for more than $270 billion in federal tax credits.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29—The construction industry had 363,000 job openings on the last day of July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings decreased by 23,000 from June but are up by 10,000 from the same time last year.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced its opposition to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announcement of a proposed rule, Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process. The proposed rule would allow an employee to choose a third-party representative, such as an outside union representative, to accompany an OSHA inspector into nonunion facilities.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator increased to 9.3 months in July, according to an ABC member survey conducted July 20 to Aug. 4. The reading is up by 0.6 months since July 2022. View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series. The South remains the region with the highest level of backlog, despite being the only region with lower backlog on a year-ago basis. Backlog gains in July were concentrated in the commercial and institutional category

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11—Construction input prices were unchanged in July relative to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data released today. Nonresidential construction input prices fell 0.1% for the month.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4—The construction industry added 19,000 jobs on net in July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 198,000 jobs, an increase of 2.5%. 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8—Associated Builders and Contractors issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Labor today issuing a final rule, Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations, which will make drastic revisions to the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts regulations that apply to federal and federally assisted construction projects funded by taxpayers.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1—National nonresidential construction spending increased 0.1% in June, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Spending is up 18% over the past 12 months. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.07 trillion in June.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1—The construction industry had 374,000 job openings on the last day of June, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings declined by 5,000 last month and are down 9,000 from the same time last year.