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, May 18—In a comment letter filed on May 17, Associated Builders and Contractors urged President Biden’s U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw an inflationary and flawed proposed rule revising Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts regulations that apply to federal and federally assisted construction projects funded by taxpayers.

WASHINGTON, May 16—The flawed method used by the federal government to calculate “prevailing wages” under the 91-year-old Davis-Bacon Act adds at least 7.2% to the cost of federal and federally assisted construction projects and inflates wages by 20.2% compared to local market averages, according to a new report from the Beacon Hill Institute. Associated Builders and Contractors has called on the U.S. Department of Labor to modernize its wage determination process for decades, but a proposed rule the agency released on March 18 actually makes this archaic and unscientific process even more inaccurate, inflationary and biased.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today released its annual update to “Building America: The Merit Shop Scorecard,” which takes stock of state policies that influence the success or failure of a free enterprise-based environment for construction companies.  

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28—Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today praised the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back burdensome regulations that drive up construction costs and hold back small business hiring and expansion.  Testifying at the 2017 National Regulatory Fairness Hearing at the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the National Ombudsman on Aug. 28, ABC General Counsel Maury Baskin Esq. of Littler Mendelson P.C. urged action on the “persuader,” overtime and silica rules, the new “joint employer” standard, and other onerous rulemakings and policies.

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13 – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today praised President Trump’s executive order calling for greater government efficiency and urged the administration and Congress to take steps to reduce the cost of public construction projects in a statement from ABC Vice President of Labor, Regulatory and State Affairs Ben Brubeck.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 7– Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today commended the Kentucky Senate’s passage of bills that would end forced unionization and repeal the state’s wasteful prevailing wage law.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 21– Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today released its annual update to “Building America: The Merit Shop Scorecard,” which reviews and grades state-specific policies and information significant to the success of the commercial and industrial construction industry. The scorecard highlights states that have created a free enterprise-based environment where merit shop contractors are well positioned to succeed and calls attention to states where strategic improvements need to be made.

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 5—Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) applauded a decision to stop an unprecedented expansion of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act onto a private construction project that was issued today by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. ABC filed an amicus brief in the case arguing against forcing contractors to pay inaccurate government-determined wage and benefits rates on the CityCenterDC project in Washington, D.C.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today celebrated an important decision limiting the scope of the Davis-Bacon Act issued by a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  In a March 31 decision granting summary judgment to the District of Columbia (the District) and private developer CCDC Office LLC (CCDC), Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) ruling that the Davis-Bacon Act can be expanded to include privately funded projects.

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.