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

rss

News Releases

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20—Associated Builders and Contractors today issued the following statement announcing its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21—Associated Builders and Contractors today released its seventh annual Merit Shop Scorecard, a ranking based on state policies and programs that encourage workforce development, grow career and technical education, strengthen careers in construction and advocate for fair and open competition for taxpayer-funded construction projects.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14—Construction input prices increased 1.4% in November 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 also increased 1.4% for the month.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14—Associated Builders and Contractors reports today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.4 months in November, according to an ABC member survey conducted Nov. 19 to Dec. 3. The reading is up 0.3 months from October 2021 and 1.2 months from November 2020.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7—Associated Builders and Contractors today applauded a federal court for granting a nationwide preliminary injunction order against the federal contractor vaccine mandate. The ruling came from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3—The construction industry added 31,000 jobs on net in November, 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 998,000 (89.7%) of the jobs lost during earlier pandemic stages.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6—Associated Builders and Contractors today issued its online Safety Technology Guide, a resource for contractors looking to implement construction technology for the best possible safety performance.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1—National nonresidential construction spending was up 0.9% in October, 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 $814.2 billion for the month.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22—Associated Builders and Contractors today released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s final rule increasing the minimum wage on federal contracts from $10.95 to $15 per hour beginning in early 2022, superseding a scheduled increase to $11.25 that will occur on Jan. 1.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19—Associated Builders and Contractors released the following statement on today's passage of the partisan reconciliation bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18—Associated Builders and Contractors and its chapters in Georgia and Texas today announced filings in support of pending suits by multiple states challenging President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors. ABC contends the unprecedented executive order exceeds the administration’s authority and is likely to increase costs and undermine economy and efficiency in federal contracting.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22—Associated Builders and Contractors’ Board of Directors has elected Stephanie Schmidt, president of Poole Anderson Construction, State College, Pennsylvania, as the 2022 ABC national chair of the board of directors during a meeting at the association’s annual Leadership Institute in Aventura, Florida.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18—Associated Builders and Contractors today released its inaugural Tech Report, a study of the innovative technology and tools that ABC contractor members are using on jobsites to be safer, more profitable and primed to win more work. The report was sourced from a survey conducted from March through May 2021. It details opportunities for construction contractors to improve their operations in project coordination, planning, estimating, production and scheduling.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19—The Maryland Minority Contractors Association has awarded Tia Perry, Associated Builders and Contractors’ director of inclusion, diversity and equity, its annual Professional Commitment Award. Perry was honored for her leadership connecting minority businesses with general contractors to help them win work and providing educational opportunities to minority businesses across the country.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9—Associated Builders and Contractors and its Alabama chapter today filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 11th Circuit against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for its COVID-19 vaccination and testing Emergency Temporary Standard, which applies to employers with 100 or more employees.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9—Construction input prices increased 1.5% in October, 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 increased 1.4% for the month.

The construction industry added 44,000 jobs on net in October, 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 963,000, or 86.5%, of the jobs lost during earlier stages of the pandemic.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4—Associated Builders and Contractors today released the following statement on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s issuance of its COVID-19 vaccination and testing Emergency Temporary Standard, which applies to employers with 100 or more employees as required by President Biden’s Path Out of the Pandemic COVID-19 Action Plan.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9— Associated Builders and Contractors reports today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.1 months in October, according to an ABC member survey conducted from Oct. 20 to Nov. 2. The reading is up 0.5 months from September 2021 and 0.4 months from October 2020.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4—Today, longtime construction industry leader, instructor and military veteran Frank Boecker testified on behalf of Associated Builders and Contractors before the U.S. House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development on the indispensable role that community colleges, trade schools and career and technical education programs play in the construction industry.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1—National nonresidential construction spending contracted 0.6% in September, 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 $791.2 billion for the month.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3—The not seasonally adjusted national construction unemployment rate dropped 2.6% in September 2021 from a year ago while 49 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. Only one state, Alaska, had a higher estimated rate than it did in September 2020.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28—Investment in nonresidential structures contracted at an annual rate of 7.3% during the third quarter of 2021 and has now contracted during seven of the past eight quarters, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The overall economy expanded at a 2.0% annualized rate during the third quarter of 2021.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27—Associated Builders and Contractors today announced that it has hired Christopher Durso as the new editor-in-chief of Construction Executive, the magazine for the business of construction.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22—Associated Builders and Contractors today calls attention to a new report that highlights the negative economic impact of controversial government-mandated project labor agreements on nonunion construction workers, who comprise 87.3% of the construction industry workforce. The study found that the limited number of nonunion craft professionals permitted to work on construction projects subject to a government-mandated PLA suffer an estimated 34% reduction in wages and benefits.

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].

Subscribe to ABC’s news releases and/or subscribe to ABC's weekly newsletter, Newsline.