A Special Message from Doug Dockery, CTO, on Platform Security

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Well before the pandemic, the construction sector was worrying over what was perceived as an acute shortage of labor. Much of the discussion on this topic over the past several years has been anecdotal. Or reference has been made to employment gains that have been less than they should be and unemployment rates that have sometimes turned spectacularly low.

December Worker Shortage Report GraphicBut it would be better to find some easy-to-understand visual representation of the problem. It’s my hope that Graphs 1 through 5 below, making use of JOLTS data, fit the bill.

From the Job Openings

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It’s that time of year again. As we say get ready to say goodbye to 2021 and ring in another new year, it’s time to unveil ConstructConnect’s Top 5 Coolest Buildings of 2021. 

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Are you looking to win more construction bids in 2022? Maybe you’re planning to grow and scale your construction business in the new year or perhaps you’re just looking to be more efficient in your estimating and bidding process to improve your bid-hit ratio.

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Good news. The number of fatal occupational injuries for the construction industry declined in 2020. The number of construction worker deaths in 2020 was 1,008, a 5.3% reduction from the 1,061 fatal work injuries in 2019. 

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To tackle a +6.8% year-over-year CPI inflation rate, the Federal Reserve has stated it will be pursuing QT rather than QE in the year ahead, quantitative tightening rather than easing, and that there may be as many as three upwards adjustments to interest rates. On the residential construction side, the expectation of higher interest rates may counterintuitively speed up groundbreakings for a while as prospective new homeowners try to beat the financing cost increases.

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Estimates of U.S. real (i.e., after inflation) gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year have generally been revised down recently, by well-known forecasting agencies, from a range between +6% and +7% to a cooler +5%. Supply shortages have cut into output levels in many industrial sectors. And bad news about coronavirus variants is putting a damper on reopening efforts.

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November Light on Megaprojects

ConstructConnect announced today that November 2021’s volume of construction starts, excluding residential work, was $30.4 billion (see shaded green box, bottom of Table 8 below), an increase of +1.7% compared with October 2021’s level of $29.9 billion (originally reported as $28.8 billion).

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Clichés are often true and it is the case that a picture can be worth a thousand words.

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The accompanying table records the top 10 project starts in the U.S. for November 2021.

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