Author: agcnews

New York and North Dakota Add the Most Jobs, While Pennsylvania and Louisiana Have Largest Decreases;Open Positions at End of September Exceeds Total Number of Employees Hired During the Entire MonthConstruction employment climbed in 27 states from September to October, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. Association officials said, however, that many more contractors would have added employees if qualified applicants were available, citing data showing a surge in construction job openings. Read more.

AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr and members of AGC’s Government Affairs staff met with US Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh on November 10 to discuss top industry priorities including, among other things, addressing the workforce shortage through skills training and attracting individuals to the construction industry as well as the importance of job site safety. AGC has long been advocating for increased federal education investments, primarily through Perkins funding for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and asked Walsh to work with the US Department of Education and Congress to increase funding to better align with individual school district’s needs. AGC…

The FAR Council’s new proposed rule creates two new categories for federal contractors – significant contractors and major contractors – which trigger significant reporting requirements related to greenhouse gas emissions. On November 14, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council released a proposed rule (FAR Case 2021-015) that would create new and onerous reporting requirements for virtually every federal construction contractor. The proposed rule introduces two new categorizes for federal contractors, “significant contractors” and “major contractors.” Significant contractors, $7.5 – $50 million in federal contract obligations (not revenue) in prior fiscal year will be required to inventory Green House Gas (“GHG”) Scope 1…

AGC of America’s (AGC) advocacy fund is proactively seeking to improve general contractors’ business environment by participating in a case before the Supreme Court of Tennessee. AGC and the AGC of Tennessee jointly submitted an amicus (or friend of the court) brief to preserve a general contractor’s right not to be sued for the damages twice under different legal theories by its contracting partner seeking to receive a double recovery. In Tennessee, a lower court initially ruled that a general contractor was liable to its subcontractor for damages for breach of a contract signed by the parties, as well as allowing recovery under…

AGC warns the IRS to look before it leaps into quickly rolling out prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements—for which it has no internal expertise or experience—tied to new private development tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. On November 4, AGC provided the IRS with extensive feedback on a notice from the U.S. Department of the Treasury seeking public comments on labor provisions tied to clean energy tax incentives—among others—in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The notice marks the first step in outlining how contractors must comply with prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements for projects to be eligible for the full value of the tax…

AGC of America and seven fellow employer groups jointly submitted an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on November 8 urging the Court to reverse a Washington Supreme Court decision that prevents a company from recovering damages from a union that sanctioned the destruction of company property. The issue in the case, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, is whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) preempts an employer’s state tort claim against a union for intentionally destroying the employer’s property in the course of a labor dispute. The case arose in the context of collective…

A measure of construction contractors’ bid prices moved sharply higher in October as firms coped with ongoing supply-chain challenges and a tight labor market, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials said rising construction costs threatens to undermine demand for projects and urged administration officials to remove remaining tariffs on construction materials and to boost investments in construction-focused education and training. “Although some materials costs have moderated, other costs are still climbing steeply, while contractors are incurring added expenses from delays caused by supply-chain disruptions, shortages of skilled labor, and rising interest rates,”…

AGC submitted comments (coalition and construction-specific) on a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund as it is more commonly known). As previously reported, a CERCLA designation would trigger the cleanup of contaminated sites and introduce liability to contractors (regardless of fault) that may have unknowingly interacted with the chemicals by moving dirt, dewatering, or demolishing structures on previously “clean” jobsites. PFOA and PFOS are two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and are no longer produced in the United…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) waiver on “construction materials” under the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) quickly approaches the November 10, 2022 expiration date and, as a result, DOT has recently published two proposed waivers with far smaller scopes. The newly published waivers clarify that the general “construction materials” waiver expiring this Thursday will not be extended and instead propose to waive the domestic preference requirements for specific situations. One of the waivers proposes BABAA requirements for “construction materials” not apply in the following scenarios: The second DOT waiver is proposing to waive BABAA’s requirements for iron and steel, manufactured products,…

The construction industry added only 1,000 employees in October while it continued to boost wages for hourly workers as firms compete to hire from a small labor pool, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. Association officials said the small increase in construction employment is an indication of how hard it has become for construction firms to find qualified workers to hire. “The construction sector would likely have added more jobs in October if only firms could find people to bring on board,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer.…