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, July 29—Following the U.S. Senate confirmation of President Biden’s nominees to serve as members of the National Labor Relations Board, Associated Builders and Contractors issued the following statement.

WASHINGTON, July 29–The U.S. economy expanded at a 6.5% annualized rate in the second quarter of 2021, pushing overall gross domestic product above pre-pandemic levels. Investment in nonresidential structures, however, declined 7% for the quarter and has now contracted in six of the past seven quarters, according to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

WASHINGTON, July 29—Associated Builders and Contractors today released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Labor’s rescission of the Joint Employer Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act final rule.

WASHINGTON, July 28—The not seasonally adjusted national construction unemployment rate was down 2.6% in June 2021 from a year ago and 45 states had lower unemployment rates over the same period, according to state-by-state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released today by Associated Builders and Contractors. Although not back to pre-pandemic levels, both overall employment and construction employment have demonstrated significant improvement during the past year.

WASHINGTON, July 22—Ahead of today’s U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions’ hearing on the Protect the Right to Organize Act, Associated Builders and Contractors released the following statement.

WASHINGTON, July 14—Construction input prices increased 2.8% in June compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of Producer Price Index data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonresidential construction input prices increased 2.9% for the month.

WASHINGTON, July 14—Build America Local, a coalition of construction industry and business organizations led by Associated Builders and Contractors, today announced a six-figure issue advocacy campaign aimed at educating Americans and members of the U.S. Senate about controversial  government-mandated project labor agreements that reduce competition and increase costs for the construction of taxpayer-funded affordable housing, clean energy and infrastructure projects across America.

WASHINGTON, July 13—Associated Builders and Contractors reports today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.5 months in June, according to an ABC member survey conducted June 20-July 6, 0.5 months higher than in May 2021 and 0.4 months higher than in June 2020.

WASHINGTON, July 2—The construction industry lost 7,000 jobs on net in June, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite that setback, the industry has recovered 875,000 (78.6%) of the jobs lost during the earlier stages of the pandemic.

WASHINGTON, July 1—Associated Builders and Contractors strongly opposes H.R. 3684, the INVEST in America Act, a partisan infrastructure bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives today by a vote of 221-201. H.R. 3684 is a $715 billion surface transportation reauthorization and water infrastructure bill that represents House Democrat’s attempt to reauthorize the expiring 2015 Fast Act.

WASHINGTON, July 1—National nonresidential construction spending declined 0.7% in May, 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 $784.5 billion for the month.

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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