Tag: Economy: Page 7

Business

U.S. rental construction, lack of first-time home buyers a sign of “inferior housing recovery”?

Despite recent dips in construction spending and employment, the mood in the industry is, well, better. Better than it was last year anyway as 151,000 jobs have been added since then, the unemployment rate is down to 13.2 percent and spending is up 5 percent. As we’ve noted before, a lot of this has to […]

May 8, 2013

Business

Better Roads: Time to start applying pressure on Congress for transportation bill replacement

Citing a report from the Congressional Budget Office that details a nearly bankrupt Highway Trust Fund and the real possibility of needing to dive into the General Fund in order to replace the current MAP-21 transportation bill, John Latta of our sister site Better Roads suggests highway contractors begin talking to their representatives about the […]

May 8, 2013

Business

Caterpillar to layoff 300 at mining facility in Illinois, close tunneling plant in Toronto

In the wake of a first quarter that saw profits tumble 45 percent, mostly due to low demand for mining equipment, Caterpillar continues to make moves to rectify the situation announcing layoffs in Illinois and a plant closing in Toronto. Neither of the moves will affect the company’s earthmoving business. After announcing a round of 500 […]

May 6, 2013

Business

Construction unemployment rate drops despite losing 6k jobs in April

After riding a four-month streak of employment gains to the highest total employment the industry had seen in nearly four years, the construction industry lost 6,000 jobs in April, according to new data from the U.S. Labor Department. Despite the loss of jobs, the industry’s unemployment rate continued to fall, dipping to 13.2 percent. The […]

May 3, 2013

Business

Construction spending dips 1.7% in March due to drop in government building; up 4.9% annually

According to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department Wednesday, construction spending dropped 1.7 percent during March to its lowest mark since August 2012. Following a housing-fueled boost of 1.2 percent in February, construction spending was measured in March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $856.7 billion. According to the data, the monthly drop, […]

May 1, 2013

Business

Caterpillar CEO talks hybrid tech, rental business at Bauma

Noting that the 2010 Icelandic volcano prevented him from attending the last Bauma show, Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar president and CEO, used that circumstance as an example of how much technology has advanced in just three years during remarks made today at the international trade show. “Then, we were scrambling to get a satellite feed. Now, […]

April 16, 2013

Business

Housing starts jump 7% in March to highest level since before recession

The housing recovery boom marches on. Following a month of stagnation in February, housing starts jumped 7 percent in March to their highest levels since June 2008, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Commerce Department. The big month pushed construction on houses and apartments over the seven figure threshold to a seasonally adjusted rate […]

April 16, 2013

Business

$2.3 billion of 2014 Army budget goes to construction

Army officials recently took time to discuss their military branch’s $129.7 billion portion of the federal budget for the 2014 fiscal year, beginning October 1st. It should come to no surprise that the vast majority of that money, 44 percent or $56.6 billion, will go to military personnel. But about $2.3 billion is marked for “military construction, […]

April 15, 2013

Business

Construction, other industries speak out against guest worker deal

Just when it looked like the final hurdle to immigration reform had been cleared, dozens of business groups, including half a dozen representing construction professionals, have called into question a new guest worker program agreed to by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO. As we recently reported, the new guest worker program, called […]

April 12, 2013

Business

Obama’s 2014 budget includes $50B for infrastructure, “full support” for MAP-21

President Barack Obama has submitted his 2014 Fiscal Year Budget to Congress and a great deal of money has been set aside for construction projects. According to a report from our sister site Better Roads, Obama’s $3.8 trillion budget includes $50 billion for infrastructure repairs. Of that amount, $40 billion will go directly to Obama’s […]

April 12, 2013

Workforce

Washington Post: Housing hasn’t led to hiring boom because construction jobs already historically high

Though construction industry employment in the U.S. is steadily improving—adding 18,000 jobs in March amid a dreary overall jobs report—the numbers don’t match the boom the housing market is seeing. This has a lot of people searching for an answer. Recently, we shared with you one interesting theory from the Washington Post’s Neil Irwin. Irwin, […]

April 10, 2013

Business

Annual U.S. construction value forecast to reach $919 billion

The value of annual construction is expected to show an increase of 8 percent over 2012 levels, according to a recent report from FMI. In its first quarter 2013 Construction Outlook, FMI, a management consulting and investment banking provider for the engineering and construction industry, forecasts the U.S. value of construction-put-in-place to rise to a […]

April 9, 2013