Tag: Economy: Page 12

Business

Report: Road construction to see only slight improvement in 2013

Despite the ongoing economic recovery, the U.S. road construction market is tough going and will only slightly improve in the new year, according to a new report. SBI, a division of MarketResearch.com, recently released its U.S. Road, Bridge and Tunnel Construction Market report, which predicts “only slight growth through 2014” and a market growth over […]

January 3, 2013

Business

Congress passes fiscal cliff deal

With negotiations extended to the absolute deadline, Congress passed a deal on New Year’s Day that will that will prevent the U.S. from going over the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Early Tuesday morning, the Senate passed the measure 89-8. Late Tuesday night, the GOP-run House of Representatives approved the measure 257-167. Among House Republicans the vote […]

January 2, 2013

Business

Construction fuel consumption index up 3.6 percent over 2011

WEX and IHS have released results of the WEX Construction Fuel Consumption Index (FCI), which indicated an increase of 3.6 percent in November year-over-year. The WEX Construction FCI measures national fuel consumption statistics for the construction industry to provide an up-to-date indication of construction activity in the United States. For November 2012, the WEX Construction […]

December 21, 2012

Business

Slight growth of equipment and software investment forecasted

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation has released its 2013 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook, which projects equipment and software investment will grow at a below-average rate of 2.9 percent. However, growth in equipment and software investment is expected to begin regaining momentum in the third and fourth quarters of 2013. According to […]

December 19, 2012

Business

FMI: Unconfident contractors face labor shortage, project delays

According to a new report from management consultant and investment banking provider FMI, the construction industry has contracted to the point that it is now roughly 70 percent of its size in 2006. And though things are looking up, construction business owners still face several challenges including a shrinking labor pool at a time when […]

December 19, 2012

Business

Builder confidence index rises to highest level in more than 6 years

Builder confidence for newly built, single-family homes rose to a level of 47 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) in December. The two-point gain from November marks the eighth consecutive month builder confidence has risen and the highest level the index has seen since April 2006. “Builders across the […]

December 18, 2012

Business

Are you concerned about the Fiscal Cliff?

December 17, 2012

Workforce

Merrill Lynch: “We are on the verge of construction hiring”

Bill McBride has pulled in some optimistic comments from Michelle Meyer at Merrill Lynch. Meyer says 2012 will “go down in history as a year of transition for the housing market” with housing starts on track to be up 25 percent and home prices on track to increase 5 percent by year’s end. Meyer forecasts […]

December 13, 2012

Business

Construction loses 20k jobs in November

Good news for the economy today as the latest U.S. Labor Department figures show that 146,000 jobs were added in the month of November while unemployment fell to 7.7 percent — the lowest that rate been since December 2008. However, the construction industry did not share in that good news, losing 20,000 jobs in November. […]

December 7, 2012

Business

ABC: modest recovery of nonresidential construction continues in 2013

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has released its 2013 economic forecast for the United States commercial and industrial construction industry, which shows the continuation of a modest recovery for nonresidential construction next year. Anirban Basu, ABC’s chief economist, said ABC expects nonresidential construction spending to increase 5.2 percent in 2013 due to the large reductions […]

December 5, 2012

Business

Construction spending improves, but there are threats

The architecture, engineering and construction industry is seeing an upward trend, but three economists warn of issues that could negatively affect it.

November 13, 2012

Technology

Colorado community college sees sparked interest in welding

In a story that hopefully has strong indications of a trend across all trades, one Colorado community college has seen a huge uptick in interest in its welding courses thanks to the economy.

October 22, 2012