Contractors Foresee Gains in All Market Segments in 2020

Construction spending rose 4.1 percent from November 2018 to November 2019, while industry employment grew in 226, or 63 percent, out of 358 metro areas, according to a new analysis of federal data released by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that its recent survey found most contractors are optimistic about the dollar value of projects available and expect to keep adding workers in 2020 but they are finding it hard to fill positions and anticipate it will continue to be hard to hire employees.

“Both the actual spending totals for November and our members’ expectations for 2020 point to a continuing uptick in construction employment,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “It’s likely that even more metros would have added workers recently if unemployment weren’t at record lows in many areas.”