The Blog

Associated Builders and Contractors reported that its Construction Backlog Indicator fell to 8.3 months in February, according to an ABC member survey conducted Feb. 20 to March 5. The reading is up 0.2 months since February 2024.

View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series.

Backlog fell on a monthly basis for contractors with less than $100 million in annual revenues while increasing sharply for contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenue. Those largest contractors have also accounted for the majority of the increase in backlog observed over the past year.

ABC’s Construction Confidence Index reading for staffing improved, while the reading for profit margins declined. The reading for sales was unchanged after rounding. The readings for all three components remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.

“While many other economic sentiment readings have deteriorated in recent months, contractors remain optimistic that business conditions will improve through the first half of 2025,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Nearly 60% of contractors intend to increase their staffing levels over the next six months, the highest share in over two years. These hiring expectations suggest that the recent slowdown in industrywide employment is largely confined to the residential segment. Yes, there are some broader signs of emerging economic weakness, but the results of this ABC member survey suggests that contractors will remain busy over the next few quarters.”

The construction industry added 19,000 jobs on net in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 174,000 jobs, an increase of 2.1%. 

Nonresidential construction employment increased by 6,200 positions on net, with growth in all three subcategories. Heavy and civil engineering added the most jobs, increasing by 2,500 positions, followed by nonresidential specialty trade, which added 2,000 jobs. Nonresidential building added 1,700 jobs last month.

The construction unemployment rate rose to 7.2% in February. Unemployment across all industries increased from 4.0% in January to 4.1% last month.

“The February jobs report suggests that contractors’ ongoing optimism, as seen in ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, is justified,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The industry added 19,000 jobs in February, making it the strongest month of growth since the third quarter of 2024, and the sizable jump in the industry unemployment rate indicates that the labor supply can accommodate ongoing hiring. 

“Economywide job growth was also perfectly decent, with U.S. employers adding 151,000 jobs last month. Following several weeks of concerning economic data and rising economic uncertainty, a good-but-boring jobs report is a welcome development,” said Basu. "Federal government employment declined by 10,000 and will likely fall further in the coming months, but that segment is just 2% of overall employment. Federal job and spending cuts, as well as elevated uncertainty, could eventually diminish construction activity at the margins, but those effects have yet to appear in these employment data.”

The construction industry had 236,000 job openings on the last day of January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings increased by 31,000 in January but are down by 171,000 from the same time last year.

“While construction job openings remained subdued in January, industrywide labor force churn increased meaningfully,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Both hires and separations—including layoffs, discharges and quits—accelerated to the fastest rate since the first half of 2024. Yes, recent construction spending data and investor caution in the face of volatile trade policy represent a cause for concern, but nearly 6 in 10 contractors expect their staffing levels to grow over the next several months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index. That, along with healthy industrywide job growth in February, suggests job openings should continue to trend higher in the coming months.”

Associated Builders and Contractors has released an analysis of 2024 state union membership data published by unionstats.com, which found that in 41 states at least 80% of workers in the private construction industry did not belong to a union.

Massachusetts was among those states, with 80.4% percent of the construction workforce choosing not to join a union in 2024.

At least 90% of workers in the private construction industry did not belong to a union in 29 states in 2024 and 2023, up from 26 states in 2022 and 24 states in 2021. Nationwide, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 7,978,000 construction industry workers were not members of a union in 2024, a 12,000-person increase from 7,966,000 workers in 2023. Overall, union membership decreased by 38,000 to 916,000. 

“More and more construction workers work for nonunion employers, defying four years of new union-friendly policy schemes advanced by the self-declared most pro-union president in history,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “In contrast, commonsense policies providing opportunities for all of America’s construction workforce are rooted in the ideals of merit and worker choice, which help taxpayers get the best possible infrastructure products at the best possible price.”

A record-high 89.7% of construction workers nationwide are not part of a union, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 89.3% in 2023.

“Workers’ choice to affiliate with unions independent of government interference creates immense value in the marketplace, which is why ABC will continue to oppose government-mandated project labor agreement policies and advocate for all construction workers to choose how to achieve their career dreams and prosper in a safe and healthy environment,” said Brubeck. “ABC urges the Trump administration and the 119th Congress to advance policies that prioritize fair and open competition, preserve worker choice and address the issues that the construction industry faces, including a skilled labor shortage of 439,000 in 2025 alone, widespread regulatory burdens, inflation, high interest rates, expiring tax provisions and other economic challenges.”

By Luiza Mills, Interstate Electrical Services Corporation

The recent ABC National Convention held in Las Vegas was filled with celebration. Not only because of the 75^th anniversary of our national association, but also because of the performance of three talented ABC MA apprentices who competed against the winners of other ABC chapter competitors from across the country, with each winning silver medals in the National Craft Championships.

Christian Robson of Premier Power won silver in the Electrical competition, while two DECCO apprentices, Dan Wilson and Jonathan Farr won silver in Pipefitting and Welding, respectively.  Congratulations are in order for these tremendous ABC MA apprentices for their hard work and for being among the best of the best in the nation!

The accomplishments are particularly important to share as we continue to experience the construction industry’s ongoing labor shortage, which ties directly with one of our strategic initiatives and our Chapter’s focus on developing the pipeline of talent our companies need to meet demand.

Last year, ABC MA took an important step in our workforce development efforts with the opening of the Gould Construction Institute’s new state of art training facility in Billerica.  It’s fitting that our local Craft Championships were held there the same day as the facility’s ribbon cutting.  The fact that our local competition was for the first time held in our own facility, together with getting to watch our apprentices compete in Las Vegas as part of ABC’s 75^th anniversary, made Christian, Dan and Jonathan’s achievements even more memorable.

The new GCI facility comes in tandem with ABC’ MA’s establishment of Building Mass Careers as a 501(c)3 charitable organization.   BMC focuses on attracting workers from a wide range of backgrounds in the construction industry collaborating with state, local and private agencies and securing needed public and private grants to support our workforce development efforts and open doors for future generations in the trades.   

Times change, and so do the challenges the construction industry faces.  We will continue to evolve with these times and to anticipate and serve the needs of our member companies.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can’t make its mind up about application of the Biden administration’s controversial policy requiring project labor agreements on solicitations for federal construction contracts of $35 million or more.

Less than two weeks after restoring merit-based competition for taxpayer-funded contracts to build VA hospitals, outpatient facilities, office buildings, national cemeteries and other construction projects, the VA has reversed course again.

The VA’s Feb. 13 FAR Class Deviation Memo—released to the public on Feb. 20—cites the change in policy on account of a January decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that ruled in favor of experienced ABC members and other federal contractors who filed 12 bid protests against three federal agencies that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services.

According to the VA’s rescinded memo:

“The Court found that the agencies’ 2024 implementation of E.O. 14063, specifically, the functionality of the mandate as applied to the individual contracts in this case stifles competition and violates the statutory directive that agencies must promote ‘full and open competition’ in federal procurements unless a statutory justification is properly invoked. No injunction relief was included in the order.

“Due to the Court of Federal Claims decision, effective immediately, contracting officers shall not use project labor agreements for large-scale construction projects, implemented at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 22.5 and 36.104(c). The FAR clauses at FAR 52.222-33, Notice of Requirement for Project Labor Agreement, and FAR 52.222-34, Project Labor Agreement, shall not be enforced in any solicitation.”

However, the VA rescinded this memo within two weeks of its issuance and restored PLA mandates. A VA bid solicitation for design-build services to replace the seismically deficient Animal Research Buildings 47 and 104 at Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, California, reinstated a previously revoked PLA on March 3.

“The VA’s latest posture towards PLA mandates makes little sense in the face of recent legal decisions and efforts by other federal agencies to eliminate inflationary and anti-competitive PLA mandate policies,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “ABC will continue to push to make fair and open competition a reality governmentwide and will get to the bottom of the VA’s flip-flop.”

On Feb. 19, ABC celebrated a new policy by the U.S. General Services Administration that will restore merit-based competition for contracts to build land port of entry projects procured by the GSA.

“The GSA’s new policy eliminates former President Joe Biden’s controversial rule requiring anti-competitive, inflationary, union-favoring project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more––but only for GSA solicitations to build critical land port of entry projects,” said Brubeck in an Engineering News-Record article.

“Requiring a PLA on LPOE projects would not advance the Federal Government’s interests in achieving economy and efficiency in Federal procurement because the need for LPOE modernizations is of an unusual and compelling urgency and requiring a PLA would be impracticable,” wrote GSA Senior Procurement Executive Chair Jeff Koses in the PLA exception memo. “A current administration priority is to remedy the emergency on the United States borders.”

Koses is a member of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council that issued a rule effective Jan. 22, 2024, implementing Biden’s Executive Order 14063 mandating PLAs on large-scale federal construction projects of $35 million or more.

The abrupt policy changes from the GSA and the VA follow a Pentagon class deviation memo––celebrated by ABC––announcing that the U.S. Department of Defense has halted PLA mandates on all military construction projects.

Of note, the DOD and the VA issued class deviation memos. In contrast, the GSA issued a PLA exception waiver from its senior procurement executive consistent with the Biden FAR rule, which appears to be the first PLA exception waiver ever granted by a federal agency under the Biden administration’s PLA mandate policy.

All other federal civilian agencies, including the remainder of the GSA’s portfolio, are still subject to Biden’s harmful pro-PLA rule.

Almost 80% of federal construction contracts of $35 million or more were awarded by the DOD, VA and GSA’s LPOE program in FY 2024, according to an ABC analysis of usaspending.gov federal agency contract awards.

“ABC will continue to use successful litigation and advocacy strategies to restore merit-based fair and open competition in federal contracting so all American workers and all qualified construction firms can compete on a level playing field to build and rebuild America,” said Brubeck. “While we are pleased with the recent policy changes at the DOD and GSA, ABC will continue to urge adoption of pro-taxpayer policies governmentwide permanently.”

On Jan. 9, ABC and 24 other construction and business groups in the Build America Local coalition sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting an executive order that would eliminate the Biden PLA mandate and restore fair and open competition on federal and federally assisted construction projects, which would save taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually.

Through ABC’s grassroots campaign, ABC members can urge Congress and President Trump to stop harmful government-mandated PLAs on federal and federally assisted construction projects via the Fair and Open Competition Act, which will soon be introduced in the 119th Congress.

Non-ABC stakeholders can help by watching this video and contacting their lawmakers via the BuildAmericaLocal.com coalition website.

The Biden government-mandated PLA policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs, delaying projects and effectively steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition.

“ABC has testified before Congress that, when mandated by government, PLAs increase construction costs by an estimated 12% to 20%, reduce competition from qualified contractors and their employees, steal money from the paychecks of token nonunion workers permitted on PLA projects and exacerbate the construction industry’s worker shortage,” said Brubeck. “Typical PLA mandates discourage competition from some of the best bidders and 9 out of 10 U.S. construction workers by forcing contractors to sign special union collective bargaining agreements, hire workers from union halls and apprenticeship programs and accept compulsory union representation on behalf of any members of their existing workforces. This exposes those workers to union wage theft of up to 34% of their compensation unless they join a union and vest in union benefits plans.”

On March 28, 2024, ABC and its Florida First Coast chapter filed suit in federal court to block Biden’s PLA final rule. The case is fully briefed and plaintiffs are awaiting a decision on the overall case and a ruling on the motion for preliminary injunction filed in April.

National nonresidential construction spending increased 0.1% in January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.248 trillion.

Spending was up on a monthly basis in 12 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending was unchanged, while public nonresidential construction spending was up 0.2% in January.

“Nonresidential construction spending rebounded slightly in January, yet this report is far from encouraging,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Data center construction spending increased another 1.9% for the month, accounting for more than three-fourths of the monthly increase in nonresidential activity. While that segment is so hot that it can melt through the effects of high interest rates, many other categories appear to be frozen in place. Even manufacturing, which still accounts for nearly $1 in every $5 of nonresidential construction spending, is virtually unchanged since May of last year.”

“Despite high interest rates and the looming effects of tariffs and heightened economic uncertainty, contractors remain optimistic,” said Basu. “Nearly 65% of contractors expect their sales to increase during the first half of 2025, according to the January reading of ABC’s Construction Confidence Index. That said, it’s possible that the February reading of ABC’s CCI will show increased pessimism given declines in other economic confidence indicators.”

At the most recent meeting of the ABC MA Human Resources Committee, the discussion focused on the hot topic of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and enforcement actions in support of President Trump’s goal of increasing the deportation of illegal aliens. 

While we are not hearing of ICE activity targeting the local construction industry, overall ICE activity and attention around it has sharply increased.  A tip for all members from the ABC HE Committee meeting is to do a self-audit of your company’s I-9 employment eligibility forms to make sure they are in order. 

No members taking part in the HR Committee meeting have been visited by ICE, and hopefully that remains the case.  However, in this climate of increased activity, atty, Michelle De Oliveria (Kenny & Sams, P.C), HR Committee co-chair, said making sure your

I-9s are in good order is a preventative step to take.  Atty. De Oliveria said one item to pay attention to with I-9s and related documentation is any employment authorization cards that may have expired.  For example, if an employer hired someone with a temporary work authorization, a review of their I-9 will show whether it is still in effect or has expired.   

As a reminder, employers are required to complete and retain I-9 forms to verify the employment authorization of individuals they hire. 

The employer must examine the employee’s required documentation to determine if it reasonably appears genuine.  Employers must retain I-9 forms for three years from the date of hire or one year after termination, whichever is later.  Employers must make the forms available to ICE agents of other authorized government officials.  More information from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can be found here.  

A related point that Atty. De Oliveria noted to the HR committee is that the law holds employers accountable for “knowingly” employing someone who is not eligible to work in the U.S.  She said if employers properly complete I-9s and stay on top of related items like expirations of temporary work authorizations, they are putting themselves in a good position to avoid problems.  She said employers should act on credible information they discover relative to someone’s employment eligibility but are best to avoid office chatter and gossip that may expose them to “knowing” unfounded information. 

Members interested in joining the ABC MA HR Committee can contact Michelle Howe at [email protected] or Venus Williams at [email protected].

The Associated Builders and Contractors 401 K Plan, which had previously been available only to chapters and employees of ABC, is now available to ABC member firms. 

This is an example of how ABC can use its national resources to help individual member companies in our chapter and other chapters around the county, according to ABC MA President Greg Beeman.  “As the laws and regulations around multi-employer 401 K plans have evolved, ABC National has been working to see how this can benefit ABC members,” he said. 

Beeman said the ABC 401 K Plan could be a good option for a number of ABC member contractors, particularly for smaller and mid-sized firms, whether they currently have a plan or not.  The ABC 401 K plan pools and leverages the scale of ABC member contractors from across the association under the umbrella of ABC.  ABC, not the individual company, is the plan sponsor.

According to Doug DiCerbo of Sentry Hill Financial Advisors - Northwestern Mutual, who is an active ABC MA member, there are a number of good reasons for member firms to consider the ABC 401 K Plan.  “The decision to join the ABC multi-employer plan, instead of maintaining a stand-alone plan, eliminates your company’s responsibilities as a plan sponsor and transfers the plan management and fiduciary compliance responsibilities to ABC and their team of experienced retirement plan professionals,” he said. 

DiCerbo noted that partners of Northwestern Mutual are among the 401k professionals overseeing the ABC plan and he knows their capabilities.  “ABC has put together a top-notch team,” he said.   

Benefits of the ABC 401K plan include:

Eliminate your company’s responsibilities as a plan sponsor, including:

• Responsibility to review, approve, sign, and file an annual Form 5500
• Plan governance, administration, reporting, regulatory and operational compliance responsibilities
• Committee meetings, prudence documentation, ongoing investment due diligence and analysis, etc.    
• Ongoing service provider due diligence and oversight, cybersecurity reviews, benchmarking, etc.
•  ERISA bond requirement

Transfer your plan management and compliance responsibilities

Save money by greatly reducing audit expenses (for currently audited plans)

Simplicity in payroll processing of plan contributions and year-end data reconciliation   Payroll and data scrubbing completed each pay period

Improve productivity

• Joining our Plan allows   staff to focus on what is most important your business. Executives in HR, finance, payroll, and benefits are free to focus their time and energy in the positions for which they were hired. This improves staff productivity which can lead to increased profitability.

Robust flexibility in plan design

• As a participating employer, you have the flexibility to tailor Plan provisions to meet the needs of your company. A few examples of flexibility includes the choice of definition of compensation, traditional and Roth 401(k) contributions, safe harbor choices, auto enrollment, and profit-sharing choices. You may update plan provisions as   goals and benefit needs change.

Effective employee communications, education, and resources

Independent Fiduciary managing plan operations, compliance, and oversight of service providers

More information on the National ABC 401K Plan can be found here.  Doug DiCerbo of Sentry Hill/Northwestern Mutual can be reached at [email protected] or 617-531-9525. 

Construction input prices increased 1.4% in January compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices increased 0.9% for the month.

Overall construction input prices are 1.3% higher than a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 0.7% higher. Prices increased in all three energy subcategories last month. Crude petroleum prices increased 14.8%, while natural gas and unprocessed energy material prices increased 13.7% and 13.0%, respectively.

“Materials prices increased at the fastest monthly pace in two years in January,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This rapid escalation is largely due to three factors. First, energy prices rose sharply. Second, producers often raise their prices at the start of the year. And third, many purchasers rushed to buy inputs before potential tariffs could go into effect, and that surge in demand pushed prices higher.”

“Of these three factors, tariffs are the only one that could continue to push input prices higher in the coming months,” said Basu. “Import taxes allow domestic producers to raise their prices, and the new 25% levies on steel and aluminum will result in just that if they remain in place. A strong majority of contractors expect their sales to increase over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, and the combination of increased demand for construction inputs and ongoing supply chain confusion suggests input price escalation could accelerate through the first half of 2025.”