After two months of disappointing, declining housing starts and permits - understandable with mortgage rates around 7 percent - the May data was a shocker, according to Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge.

The global drywall and insulation contractor market is expected to grow from $474.33 billion in 2022 to $529.04 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate of 11.5 percent. The Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the chances of global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, at least in the short-term.

Construction employment increased in 283, or 79 percent, of 358 metro areas between February 2022 and February 2023, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government employment data.

Total construction spending decreased by 0.1 percent in February, as declines in single-family homebuilding and public construction outweighed a pickup in private nonresidential construction, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America April 3 of new federal data.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a report entitled “Building for the Future: Advancing Equal Employment Opportunity in the Construction Industry.”

Total construction spending in April increased by 1.2 percent from March and 7.2 percent year-over-year as widespread gains in nonresidential and multifamily construction spending offset a continuing plunge in single-family homebuilding, according to an analysis June 1 by the Associated General Contractors of America of new federal data.

Construction employment increased in 45 states in February from a year earlier, while 24 states added construction jobs from January to February, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America on March 24.

The construction industry continues to face a skilled labor shortage, with worker scarcity worsening since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Marcum LLP’s annual analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

On March 16, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation released the March Monthly Confidence Index for the $1 trillion equipment finance industry. March’s index is 50.3, a decrease from the February index of 51.8.