TRG | The Bottom Line – 3/26

“Honestly, all the highway guys are going to miss the COVID lockdowns.” It’s feedback from the field, this one from an L.A. area ready-mix concrete supplier and general contractor, that is a reminder of just how far we’ve come since last year at this time when the world came to a standstill under quarantine. With elevated construction trends across residential, non-res and public construction, so too has the need for construction workers. The Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the construction industry needs to hire an additional 430,000 craft professionals in 2021 just to keep up with demand. While nominal construction spending (i.e., not adjusted for inflation) increased by 4.8% in 2020, employment fell by 6.3% over the same time period. A bevy of factors impacted this dichotomy, ranging from spikes in building products/materials and labor costs to a change in mix of construction work (i.e., more residential construction).