Designing Generationally Today to Protect Tomorrow

DOL Receives Comments on Occupations That Should Be on U.S. Worker Shortage List

Spackle by Dave Coverly

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ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator Inches Lower in May, Contractors Remain Confident

Construction Workers Found to Be the Most Satisfied with Their Jobs

ACE Mentor Program and Simpson Strong-Tie Partner to Promote Trade Careers

USGBC Applauds the Final Definition of a Zero-Emissions Building

ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator Inches Lower in May, Contractors Remain Confident

Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator fell to 8.3 months in May, according to an ABC member survey conducted May 20 to June 4. The reading is down 0.6 months from May 2023.

View ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index tables for May. View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series.

Backlog declined on a monthly basis for every company size except those contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenues. On an annual basis, backlog is down for contractors of all sizes.

ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for profit margins and staffing levels fell slightly in May, while the reading for sales improved. All three readings remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.

“Over a year has passed since the Federal Reserve raised the target range of the federal funds rate above 5 percent,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Despite widespread expectations that rates will remain elevated through at least the end of the year, contractors remain confident about the future, with a majority of contractors expecting their sales and staffing levels to expand over the next six months.

“Although backlog has been lower in 2024 than it was during 2023, it has also been stable,” said Basu. “While significant spending activity in manufacturing and infrastructure-related segments has kept contractors busy, input cost escalation has reemerged in recent months. As a result, contractor confidence regarding profit margins has fallen to the lowest level since November 2023.”

Note: The reference months for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series were revised on May 12, 2020, to better reflect the survey period. CBI quantifies the previous month's work under contract based on the latest financials available, while CCI measures contractors' outlook for the next six months. View the methodology for both indicators.

Construction Workers Found to Be the Most Satisfied with Their Jobs

Workplace satisfaction is more important than ever before for retaining employees, with one recent survey finding that 77 percent of workers were more likely to stay with an employer if they were satisfied with the company’s organizational culture.

To uncover which industry has the most satisfied employees, TollFreeForwarding.com researched online review data for 200 companies across multiple industries and ranked them based on the following criteria: culture and values, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, compensation, career opportunities and senior management satisfaction.

Using these rankings, TollFreeForwarding.com scored each industry on a scale of one to 100 for each category, as well as an overall average. The research found the construction industry to have the most satisfied employees of any industry, earning an overall score of 72.20 out of 100.

Several factors are likely contributing to construction’s high scores, including skyrocketing wages, which have seen an increase of more than 20 percent since 2021. Other contributing factors include increasing job opportunities, greater job security and the availability of diverse roles.

“It’s clear that job satisfaction plays an important role in employee retention, and research shows that happy employees are more productive than those dissatisfied with their jobs,” said Jason O’Brien, COO of TollFreeForwarding.com. “As our findings show, employee satisfaction is based on a variety of factors, from workplace culture and compensation to opportunities and management. Businesses that want to retain their employees need to focus on all these factors, as the top-ranking industries scored highly across the board.”

ACE Mentor Program and Simpson Strong-Tie Partner to Promote Trade Careers

ACE Mentor Program and Simpson Strong-Tie announced their 2024 partnership to promote construction trade careers to high school students across the U.S. The partnership includes a $50,000 donation to ACE and adds Simpson Strong-Tie Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Engagement Annie Kao to the ACE national Board of Directors.

ACE Mentor Program connects high school students with experts from the design and construction industry. In partnering with Simpson Strong-Tie, ACE students will be able to participate in an annual Trades Day, which will be held at Simpson Strong-Tie locations throughout the U.S. in October. For this inaugural event, Simpson Strong-Tie will provide tours of its manufacturing operations, research and development lab tests, hands-on building activities using Simpson Strong-Tie products, giveaways and more. The company’s employees will be on hand to discuss their job expertise and insights, inspiring high school students to pursue a career in the construction trades.

Simpson Strong-Tie will also support ACE through its annual Do What You Can Day event, which enables Simpson Strong-Tie employees across the country to give back to their local communities.

“We’re thrilled about the partnership with Simpson Strong-Tie,” said Diana Eidenshink, president of ACE Mentor Program. “It perfectly aligns with our mission to educate students about the benefits of trade careers. Addressing the labor shortage in construction is crucial for our industry, and we’re eager to engage students and offer volunteer opportunities through this collaboration.”

“Our partnership with ACE furthers one of our social impact priorities of educating students about trades jobs and the numerous benefits of a career in the trades,” noted Simpson Strong-Tie CEO Mike Olosky. “Getting more people into the construction trades is a key goal for us. Helping to alleviate the labor shortage benefits our whole industry, and we’re excited to work with ACE on engaging students in their program while giving our employees opportunities to volunteer.”

For more information about ACE, visit acementor.org.

USGBC Applauds the Final Definition of a Zero-Emissions Building

The Biden Administration, perhaps more than any previous administration, recognizes the enormous role that buildings play in our lives and environment. USGBC collaborated with the White House and Department of Energy in this effort and worked with the Biden Administration during Greenbuild to announce plans to create a new national definition of a zero-emissions building.

This is the future of buildings, and the definition will be an important tool for establishing a common understanding of what it really means to be a zero-operating-emissions building. As financial institutions, investors and insurers grapple with climate risks, USGBC sees the baseline established by this definition as key to evolving market expectations.

USGBC is currently developing the next phase of its LEED rating system–LEED v5–and is committed to aligning the new rating systems by including specific LEED certifications designed to certify projects to the national definition. As markets increasingly demand greater sustainability, USGBC hopes and expects that it will be a popular approach for future LEED projects.

LEED, which launched the green building revolution 30 years ago, will continue to be the holistic platform that recognizes not just energy-related performance established under this definition, but also other attributes, like materials, water efficiency, waste management, land use, transportation and indoor air quality–all of which are critically important to social equity, human health and community well-being.

Designing Generationally Today to Protect Tomorrow

Construction Specialties was an early industry adopter of sustainability as both a practice and philosophy. For example, CS was the first manufacturer to launch a completely PVC-free wall protection line, which is called Acrovyn. The global company was also one of the first partner manufacturers to sign on as part of mindfulMATERIALS, an organization it still supports today. But in an industry where “green” has become something of a throwaway word or a box to check, CS has established a new position that intends to harness learning up to this point and help define its future in sustainable manufacturing.

“CS is never satisfied with the status quo—so we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible,” said Frank Probst, president and CEO of Construction Specialties. “In a world that desperately needs all of our best ideas and energy, we invite challenge and partnership to provide real-time innovation and forward-thinking solutions.”

Roadmap: The Common Materials Framework

Construction Specialties has established a sustainability plan for 2024 that affects all levels of the organization and is structured using the Common Materials Framework. The Common Materials Framework is the outcome of a detailed, cross-stakeholder industry effort to analyze and organize more than 100 of the most common building product and material certifications and disclosures. By distilling the 650+ factors relevant to material sustainability identified within these programs into five distinct pillars of health and sustainability, the CMF helps the industry communicate in the same way with an aligned goal of driving holistic impact:

• Human Health
• Climate Health
• Circular Economy
• Ecosystem Health
• Social Health and Equality

Using these five pillars, Construction Specialties has identified specific and measurable actions that establish a strong stake in its pledge to sustainably manufacturing, from beginning to end.

DOL Receives Comments on Occupations That Should Be on U.S. Worker Shortage List

Over 2,000 commenters responded to the Department of Labor’s request for input on occupations that should be added to the “Schedule A” shortage list, which presumes U.S. workers are not available in a listed occupation and speeds employer applications for green cards for workers in those jobs. Specifically, associations and companies asked the DOL to add construction workers, landscapers, engineers, licensed practical nurses, home health aides, pharmacists, teachers and many other professions to Schedule A.

Among the commenters requesting inclusion of construction occupations in Schedule A was the Niskanen Center, which stressed the need for Schedule A to “target particular areas of significant unmet need or to provide strategic assistance to initiatives of national importance, such as the construction and staffing of semiconductor manufacturing plants.”