News Releases

ABC: Judge Favors Special Interests on Federal Infrastructure, a Loss for Taxpayers and the Nonunion Construction Industry

May 19, 2025 |
593 |
News Releases 2025, PLAs, Politics and Policy

WASHINGTON, May 19—Associated Builders and Contractors today responded to a May 16 decision from the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia that grants a preliminary injunction to the North America’s Building Trades Unions that reinstates project labor agreement mandates on certain U.S. Department of Defense and General Service Administration construction contracts over $35 million.

“ABC respectfully disagrees with the court’s reinstatement of illegal and costly project labor agreement mandates on a wide range of federal construction projects critical to America’s national security,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs. “Instead, all government-mandated PLAs should be entirely rescinded by the Trump administration to prioritize efficient use of taxpayer dollars on high-quality, safely built projects over steering contracts to special interests. Rescinding this mandate would build on the administration’s ongoing efforts to reward merit in federal contracting—a significant victory for taxpayers that would reduce federal construction costs by up to $10 billion annually.

“By discriminating against the 89.7% of the industry workforce that is not unionized, PLAs discourage competition by forcing contractors to sign union collective bargaining agreements, hire workers from union halls and apprenticeship programs and accept compulsory union representation on behalf of any members of their existing workforces, and exposes those workers to union wage theft of up to 34% of their compensation unless they join a union and vest in union benefits plans,” said Swearingen.

“Taxpayers lose when responsible, qualified contractors are effectively and unfairly excluded from bidding on contracts to build essential infrastructure,” said Swearingen. “Americans deserve long-lasting construction projects built safely, on time and on budget by the best contractors and workers, regardless of labor affiliation. ABC will continue to fight for fair and open competition that allows the most qualified contractors and workers to bid for federal work on a level playing field.”

This PLA mandate has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs, delaying projects and effectively steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor.

ABC: Construction Materials Prices Tame in April Despite Rising Iron and Steel Costs

May 15, 2025 |
1095 |
Construction Economics, Materials Prices, News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, May 15—Construction input prices decreased 0.1% in April compared 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 increased 0.2% for the month.

Overall construction input prices are 0.1% higher than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 0.2% higher. Prices decreased in all three energy categories last month. Natural gas prices were down 7.1%, while prices for unprocessed energy materials and crude petroleum were down 5.0% and 4.9%, respectively.

“Construction input prices declined in April, but that was largely due to falling energy prices,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Materials directly affected by tariffs saw sharp price increases for the month. Steel mill product prices, for instance, rose 5.9%, while copper wire and cable prices increased 5.0%.

“While recent developments have reduced tariff-related uncertainty, the 25% tax on steel and aluminum imports remains in place, and a sudden resumption in imports from China could cause an increase in shipping prices. Despite the upward pressure that these factors will put on input prices, just 1 in 4 contractors expect their profit margins to contract over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index.”

Despite Tariff Impacts, ABC Contractors’ Backlog and Profit Margin Expectations Improve in April

May 13, 2025 |
2072 |
Construction Backlog Indicator, Construction Confidence Index, Construction Economics, News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, May 13—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to a 20-month high of 8.7 months in April, according to an ABC member survey conducted April 22 to May 6. The reading is up 0.3 months since April 2024.

View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series.

Backlog has increased significantly over the past year for contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenues. While backlog has also risen modestly for the smallest contractors, it is down on an annual basis for those with $30 million to $100 million in annual revenues.

ABC’s Construction Confidence Index reading for profit margins improved in April, while the readings for sales and staffing levels fell, though the outlook for sales is higher than a year ago. The readings for all three components remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.

“Nearly 22% of contractors had a project delayed or canceled in April due to tariffs, up from 18% in March, while 87% have been notified of tariff-related materials prices increases,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Contractors remain busy despite these headwinds; backlog rose in April and is now at the highest level since September 2023. While ABC members remain upbeat about the near-term outlook, the share of respondents that expect their sales to decline over the next six months rose to 19% in April, up 6 percentage points since the start of the year.”

Note: The reference months for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series were revised on May 12, 2020, to better reflect the survey period. CBI quantifies the previous month's work under contract based on the latest financials available, while CCI measures contractors' outlook for the next six months. View the methodology for both indicators.

ABC Welcomes DOL’s Pause in Enforcement of Biden’s 2024 Independent Contractor Rule

May 2, 2025 |
1617 |
News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, May 2—ABC applauds the U.S. Department of Labor’s May 1 announcement that it will pause enforcement of the 2024 Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act final rule in current enforcement matters while the agency reviews this regulation. Instead, the department will rely on longstanding principles outlined in Fact Sheet #13 and further informed by the reinstated Opinion Letter FLSA2019-6, which addresses classification in the context of virtual marketplace platforms. ABC, its Southeast Texas chapter, the Coalition for Workforce Innovation and five other organizations are currently challenging the 2024 final rule in federal court.

“ABC is pleased that the U.S. Department of Labor will not apply the Biden administration’s 2024 final rule’s analysis in current enforcement matters,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs. “This is welcome news for the many construction employers who depend on legitimate independent contractors to provide specialized skills, entrepreneurial opportunities and stability during fluctuations of work common to the industry.

“The Biden administration’s 2024 final independent contractor rule is confusing, vague and unworkable, and harms construction workers classified as independent contractors because they will lose crucial opportunities for work,” said Swearingen.

“Instead of promoting much-needed economic growth and protecting legitimate independent contractors, the Biden administration’s 2024 final rule results in more confusion and expensive, time-consuming, unnecessary and often frivolous litigation, as both employers and workers will not understand who qualifies as an independent contractor under the FLSA,” said Swearingen. “ABC continues to support reinstatement of the Trump administration’s 2021 final rule, which simplified and clarified the factors for determining when a worker is an independent contractor versus an employee.”

ABC: Nonresidential Construction Added Jobs in April Despite Headwinds

May 2, 2025 |
2508 |
Construction Economic Update, Construction Economics, JOLTS, News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, May 2—The construction industry added 11,000 jobs in April, 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 grown by 143,000 jobs, an increase of 1.7%.

Nonresidential construction employment increased by 8,000 positions on net, with growth in 2 of the 3 subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, increasing by 4,900 positions, while nonresidential building added 3,600 jobs. Heavy and civil engineering lost 500 positions for the month.

The construction unemployment rate rose to 5.6%, while unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 4.2% in April.

“The construction industry added a perfectly acceptable 11,000 jobs in April,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Despite weak construction spending data for March and several economic headwinds, including high interest rates, tight lending standards and trade policy uncertainty, backlog remains sufficiently elevated to keep industry employment growing for the time being.

“That said, April is likely the last month of economic data largely unaffected by tariffs and tariff-related uncertainty,” said Basu. “The reference period for today’s jobs report is the pay period through April 12, which may exclude staffing decisions, or project cancelations or delays, related to recent trade policy developments. While the economic outlook has worsened in recent weeks, it remains unclear how the economy will respond in the coming months. For now, contractors remain broadly optimistic, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, and industrywide staffing levels continue to expand.”

ABC: Nonresidential Construction Spending Plunges in March

May 1, 2025 |
2252 |
Construction Economic Update, Construction Economics, Construction Spending, News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, May 1—National nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.5% in March, 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 $1.25 trillion.

Spending was down on a monthly basis in 11 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending fell 0.8%, while public nonresidential construction spending was down 0.2% in March.

“Nonresidential construction spending fell sharply in March, with declines spread across virtually every private subsector,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Data center investments, which accounted for more than 70% of the increase in private nonresidential construction spending between March 2024 and March 2025, are perhaps the only remaining source of industry momentum. Manufacturing construction, while still elevated, has wavered in recent months. Most commercial segments remain subdued under the weight of high borrowing costs and tight lending standards. Residential construction continues to slide.

“Given unprecedented economic uncertainty, spending is unlikely to rebound in the coming months,” said Basu. “While a majority of contractors surveyed in March were still optimistic about their future sales, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, sentiment is likely to falter as the effects of tariffs begin to raise input prices and stall or cancel projects.”

ABC Construction Safety Report: Jobsites Can Be Nearly 7 Times Safer With Health and Safety Best Practices

May 1, 2025 |
1890 |
News Releases 2025, Workforce and Safety

WASHINGTON, May 1—Associated Builders and Contractors today released its 2025 Health and Safety Performance Report, an annual guide to construction jobsite health and safety best practices. As a proud sponsor, ABC published the report ahead of Construction Safety Week 2025, May 5-9, to support its industrywide call to action for safer jobsites and a stronger safety culture.

The report shows the positive impacts of construction companies participating in ABC’s STEP® Health and Safety Management System, which enables top-performing ABC members to achieve incident rates 658% safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics construction industry average, reducing total recordable incident rates by 85%. Established in 1989, STEP provides contractors and suppliers with a robust, no-cost framework for measuring health and safety data and benchmarking with peers in the industry.

“Transforming the status quo to set the expectation that all incidents are preventable creates a culture where health and safety are elevated to core values, a moral obligation for employers and employees,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “Priorities change frequently, but values remain consistent. The tools in ABC’s safety report draw the blueprint for industry leaders and workers to create a culture of health and safety, win and deliver work to communities without incident and protect the construction industry’s most valuable resource: its workforce.”

ABC’s research on more than 1 billion work hours completed by participants in the construction, heavy construction, civil engineering and specialty trades in 2024 identified the following foundations of industry-leading safety best practices:

New hire safety orientation: Companies that conduct an in-depth indoctrination of new employees into health and safety culture, systems and processes experience Total Recordable Incident Rates, or TRIR, 52% lower than companies that limit their orientations to basic health and safety compliance topics. Additionally, Days Away, Restricted or Transferred, or DART, rates are reduced by 56%.
Substance abuse prevention programs: Robust substance abuse prevention programs and policies with provisions for drug and alcohol testing where permitted lead to a 52% reduction in TRIR and a 55% reduction in DART rates.
Frequency of toolbox talks: Companies that conduct daily, 15-to-30-minute toolbox talks reduce TRIR rates by 78% and DART rates by 79% compared to companies that hold them monthly.
Top management engagement: Employer involvement at the highest level of company management in safety best practices produces a 49% reduction in TRIR and a 52% reduction in DART rates.
Leading indicators: Tracking and reviewing activities carried out to prevent and control injuries, such as safety training, new hire safety orientation and substance abuse prevention, leads to a 59% reduction in TRIR and a 60% reduction in DART rates.

“The 2025 Health and Safety Performance Report and STEP will help any contractor or supplier reinforce their commitment to the well-being of their workforce,” said Sizemore. “If we choose to lead, if we choose to commit and if we choose to transform, together we can ensure every construction worker goes home safer, happier, healthier and more fulfilled every single day.”

For eight years, ABC’s Health and Safety Performance Report has captured the results of ABC STEP member companies performing real work on real projects to identify what comprises an industry-leading health and safety program. ABC member firms participating in STEP measure their safety processes and policies on key components and the criteria for best practices through a detailed questionnaire, with the goal of implementing or enhancing safety programs that reduce jobsite incident rates.

ABC’s 2025 Health and Safety Performance Report is brought to you by DEWALT, a Stanley Black & Decker brand, celebrating 100 years in business by continuing to provide customers with total jobsite and landscaping equipment solutions.

Any company can participate in STEP. Visit abc.org/step to begin or continue your safety journey.

ABC: All But 4 States Had Construction Unemployment Rates Below 10% in March

April 30, 2025 |
2383 |
Construction Economics, News Releases 2025, State Unemployment

WASHINGTON, April 30—The national March 2025 not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rate was 5.4%, unchanged from March 2024, according to a state-by-state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released today by Associated Builders and Contractors. The analysis found that 19 states had lower estimated construction unemployment rates over the same period, 25 had higher rates and six states had the same rates. All states except for Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey and Rhode Island had construction unemployment rates below 10%.

National NSA payroll construction employment was 140,000 higher than March 2024. As of March 2025, SA payroll construction employment was 703,000, or 9.2%, above its pre-pandemic peak of 7.6 million.

Estimated state construction unemployment rates were lower than their pre-pandemic level in much of the country. As of March 2025, 30 states had lower construction unemployment rates compared to March 2019 and 17 states had higher rates, while Alabama, Florida and Minnesota had the same rate.

“Although March state construction unemployment rates show a relatively healthy level of construction employment, rising uncertainty about the business climate over the remainder of this year and 2026 is weighing on contractor and developer plans,” said Bernard Markstein, president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC. “Confusion surrounding tariffs and their impact on building materials prices has increased the level of uncertainty. This is on top of continued elevated interest rates and higher labor costs. These concerns are stoking fears of a major economic slowdown and the possibility of a recession. For now, most of the construction industry is slowing or temporarily halting hiring workers as they seek greater clarity as to where the economy is headed.”

Recent Month-to-Month Fluctuations

In March, the national NSA construction unemployment rate dropped 1.8% from February as the weather improved in much of the country. All but two states (Louisiana and Mississippi) had lower estimated construction unemployment rates than in February.

The Top States

The five states with the lowest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates for March were:

South Dakota, 1.9%
Oklahoma, 2.3%
New Hampshire, 2.8%
West Virginia, 3.1%
Florida, 3.2%

South Dakota, Oklahoma and West Virginia all notched their lowest March NSA estimated construction unemployment rate on record. New Hampshire had its second-lowest March rate on record. Florida had its third-lowest March unemployment rate on record, behind its March rates in 2023 and 2024 (2.7% and 2.8%, respectively).

The Bottom States

The five states with the highest March estimated NSA construction unemployment rates were:

Minnesota, 9.8%
Connecticut, 10.0%
Maine, 10.2%
New Jersey, 12.2%
Rhode Island, 16.0%

Rhode Island, Connecticut and Minnesota had the second, third and fourth largest reduction in their monthly NSA estimated construction unemployment rates, respectively, among the states, behind Montana.

Click here to view graphs of U.S. and state overall unemployment rates (Tab 1) and construction unemployment rates (Tab 2) showing the impact of the pandemic, including a graphing tool that creates a chart for multiple states. To better understand the basis for calculating unemployment rates and what they measure, check out the Background on State Construction Unemployment Rates.

ABC: Construction Job Openings Decreased by 38,000 in March

April 29, 2025 |
1965 |
Construction Economic Update, JOLTS, News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, April 29—The construction industry had 248,000 job openings on the last day of March, 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 38,000 last month and are down by 90,000 from the same time last year.

“Construction job openings continued to trend lower in March, a clear sign of slowing industrywide demand for labor,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Hiring activity was particularly weak for the month, with the 302,000 hires equivalent to just 3.6% of industrywide jobs—the lowest rate ever recorded.

“With quitting and layoff activity also subdued for the month, construction labor force churn is virtually nonexistent at the moment. While a majority of contractors surveyed in March expect to increase their staffing levels over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, tariffs and other economic headwinds may blunt hiring expectations in the months to come.”

ABC: Monthly Construction Economic Survey Shows Tariff Impacts Emerge

April 15, 2025 |
6516 |
Construction Backlog Indicator, Construction Confidence Index, Construction Economics, News Releases 2025

WASHINGTON, April 15—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.5 months in March, according to an ABC member survey conducted March 20 to April 6. The reading is up 0.3 months since March 2024.

View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series.

Backlog increased on a monthly basis for all nonresidential subsegments in March. Over the past year, however, only the infrastructure category has experienced a meaningful increase in backlog.

ABC’s Construction Confidence Index reading for staffing improved, while the readings for sales and profit margins fell. The readings for all three components remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.

Notably, respondents who completed the survey after the April 2 tariffs announcement were significantly less upbeat—fewer than 26% of those respondents expected their profit margins to expand over the next six months, while more than 40% expected them to contract.

"Backlog increased in March and contractors remained optimistic regarding the future, but this largely reflects contractor activity and sentiment prior to April 2, when the most consequential economic policy in several decades was announced," said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.

"Approximately 80% of ABC contractors surveyed indicate that suppliers have notified them of tariff-related materials price increases, and nearly 20% of contractors surveyed had projects paused or interrupted because of tariffs during March," said Basu. "These tariffs have already materially diminished the outlook for construction activity in 2025. Many businesses are poised to delay or even cancel planned capital investments given the current business environment and daily market convulsions. Conditions will likely deteriorate further if elevated tariff rates remain in place for any meaningful length of time."