Author: agcnews
KANSAS CITY, MO. – The bi-state region’s fast-growing construction sector, which last year started $8.3 billion worth of projects, contributes an extra $10.7 billion to the local economy and supports 83,000 non-construction jobs, according to a new economic impact analysis released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. The new analysis shows the broader impacts of an industry as the region’s two largest building associations announced plans to merge by the end of the year. “Construction is expanding in the Kansas City metro area,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “As a result, the industry is adding good-paying jobs at…
Struggling to find enough workers? On this episode, three young construction professionals share their insights about how they made a decision on a full-time position and why their selected firms stood out. Guests include Trent Fair, recent graduate of Pittsburg State University, who landed a Superintendent role with Simpson Construction Services, Jack McGavran, also graduated from Pittsburg State who will be joining McCarthy Building Services as an Engineer, and Collette LeManske of Kansas State University, who will be taking on a Project Engineer role with Brinkmann Constructors. These three new additions to the industry provide some great information about what…
The Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) is the largest association of construction owners in the United States. COAA just held its Spring Connect conference in downtown Baltimore on the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) campus. One session featured “What I Love and Hate About Updating My Contracts from an Owners’ Perspective.” ConsensusDocs’ Executive Director & Senior Counsel Brian Perlberg spoke on a panel with Joe Cleves of Taft Law and Pen Wolf from the Cleveland Clinic. Pen Wolf from Cleveland Clinic outlined the process he used to update his contracts recently. The Cleveland Clinic builds facilities annually and owns different facilities at different…
Struggling to find enough workers? On this episode, three young construction professionals share their insights about how they made a decision on a full-time position and why their selected firms stood out. This episode was pre-recorded at AGC’s Annual Convention. When recording on the road, audio isn’t always studio-quality, but the content is worth the listen! Thanks for following! Guests:Our guests each bring different perspectives on the recruitment and hiring process and share what got them where they are now. Trent Fair – Pittsburg State University / Simpson Construction Services, simpsonconst.com/Jack McGavran – Pittsburg State University / McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., www.mccarthy.com/Collette…
Rapidly rising hourly earnings enabled the construction industry to add 36,000 employees in May, but a record number of job openings going into the month suggests contractors want to hire even more workers, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. Association officials said firms would have hired even more workers if they could find more people willing to work in the sector. “It is encouraging that contractors were able to add workers in May, but they will need many more to meet the increasing demand for infrastructure and private nonresidential projects,” said…
Nearly three-quarters of federal contractors report they will stop bidding on federal projects if the Biden administration were to follow through on its plans to impose government-mandated project labor agreements according to the results of a survey of firms released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The survey also found that the federal mandate will make it harder for contractors to partner with small, veteran, minority or disabled-owned firms. In addition to limiting competition for federal projects, the survey found that imposing project labor agreements will make it harder for firms to find enough workers to hire. Nearly 40 percent…
Consensus doesn’t mean unanimity. ConsensusDocs is the first and only broad-based coalition in the United States that publishes standard construction contract documents. ConsensusDocs has existed for over 14 years and has grown to over 40 construction organizations, including the three largest owner organizations in the U.S. One aspect that made consensus possible was allowing each participating organization the opportunity to provide their own individual comments to the standard ConsensusDocs language. This is done through the ConsensusDocs Guidebook. You can access the published ConsensusDocs Guidebook here: https://www.consensusdocs.org/guidebook/. The Guidebook allows associations to highlight important risk allocation issues and project-specific concerns for…
Spending on nonresidential construction projects declined for the second month in a row in April as contractors coped with an all-time high for job openings, according to an analysis the Associated General Contractors of America released today of federal spending data. Association officials said workforce shortages are suppressing the amount of construction activity that can take place and called for measures to encourage more people to pursue high-paying construction careers. “Nonresidential construction spending is being held back by a paucity of qualified workers, not a lack of projects,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “With job openings at an…
Construction employment increased in two-thirds of U.S. metro areas between April 2021 and April 2022, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government employment data. Association officials noted that a lack of qualified workers kept employment down in many metro areas. “Contractors are eager to hire more workers but the pool of experienced jobseekers barely exists,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “As a result, employment gains have stalled in too many metros.” Read more.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently announced an extension of the Form I-9 flexibilities first announced in March 2020 and updated in March 2021. On February 18, 2022, President Biden issued a notice on the continuation of the state of the National Emergency concerning the COVID-19 pandemic (“COVID-19”). Due to the continued safety precautions related to COVID-19, DHS will extend the updated flexibilities until October 31, 2022. On March 20, 2020, in response to public health guidance and precautions related to COVID-19, DHS announced that it would exercise prosecutorial discretion to defer the physical presence…