Category: News Line

Today, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate arrived at a deal to provide approximately $2 trillion in federal funding and programs to address the ongoing health crisis. The legislation would send checks to many Americans under a certain income threshold, create a $350 billion loan program for small businesses and establish a $500 billion lending fund for industries, cities and states.

This legislation is viewed as a critical lifeline for our small and mid-size construction companies as they work hard to maintain their businesses, keep employees on payroll and provide paid leave to those affected by the COVID-19 virus.

While passage in the Senate is set for this afternoon, House members remain in their home districts and is not likely to pass the bill today. Further, without an agreement from all members of the House to pass the bill by “unanimous consent” they could be called back to Washington, D.C., for a full vote on the House floor. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been generally positive about the new deal, but has said the bill is still under review in the House.

For more information on the federal response to the crisis and other resources for employers, visit abc.org/coronavirus.

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Many employers are now asking whether they must record cases of COVID-19 on their Occupational Safety and Health Administration 300 Logs or report the cases to OSHA.

ABC general counsel Littler Mendelson P.C. has written an article that covers the following questions:

• Is COVID-19 Considered an “Illness” Under OSHA’s Recordkeeping Rules?
• When Is a COVID-19 Case Considered Recordable?
• When Is a COVID-19 Case Reportable?

Read the Littler analysis here.

Additional information can be found on the OSHA webpage.

ABC is aware of concerns expressed by ABC members on this issue.  Staff will continue to work with OSHA and provide future updates.

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On March 16, ABC submitted comments to the Office of Management and Budget on its Request for Information on Improving and Reforming Regulatory Enforcement and Adjudication.

Published in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order 13892, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication, the RFI sought public feedback on identifying reforms that ensure adequate due process in regulatory enforcement and adjudication.

In its comments, ABC both applauded the EO and welcomed the RFI.

“Far too often in previous administrations, agencies have imposed unfair and unnecessary burdens on businesses—particularly small businesses—through the investigatory and adjudicative process,” ABC said. “Because the rules and regulations by which statutes are implemented in the 21st century have become so complex and convoluted, it is nearly impossible for business leaders to be fully aware of every regulatory requirement. There are also many secret rules lurking in the Federal Register, or guidance that was never published at all or was changed without notice or public comment, resulting in potentially severe penalties for innocent mistakes…ABC hopes that this is the first step in fully implementing the order and reducing regulatory burdens imposed on the business community.”

Additionally, ABC expressed its support for the following modifications to the current investigatory and adjudicative processes:

• No person should be subjected to a civil administrative enforcement action or adjudication without prior public notice of the agency’s jurisdiction over the particular conduct and the legal standards that apply;
• All government agencies should foster greater private-sector cooperation in enforcement, share information more transparently with regulated businesses and reach predictable outcomes; and
• Most importantly, all government agencies must safeguard regulated businesses against punitive measures that are imposed without fair warning and full notice of what types of conduct will be penalized, including but in fact exceeding constitutional due process rights.

More information on the RFI can be found in the Federal Register.

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ABC issued a key vote to the Senate on an amendment submitted by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). The amendment would replace the mandated paid leave requirements of the House-passed Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) that would affect employers with fewer than 500 employees with unemployment insurance capped at $1000 per week. ABC believes this would be a more effective way to provide immediate relief for those employees and families affected by the coronavirus.

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From March 1-7, ABC celebrated Women in Construction Week, a week that raises awareness and emphasizes the growing role of women in the construction industry. Here is a list of some of the ways ABC and its members demonstrated the success of women in the field:

1. We kicked off a social media campaign

ABC National shared quotes and photos of women in the merit shop community and articles with other communications professionals and leaders, so they could post the content on their own social media platforms. All photos and quotes can be found on ABC’s Flickr page.

2. We were featured on local and national media outlets.

With letters to the editor and local craft competitions, ABC was able to promote Women in Construction Week in everything from industry magazines to news shows.

Examples include:

For more information on women in the construction industry, please visit the NAWIC website.

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Information about coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be issued at a rapid pace. In order to keep ABC chapters and members up to date and provide access to accurate information, ABC has created the COVID-19 Update webpage.

The COVID-19 Update webpage includes resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Labor, DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Small Business Administration, ABC general counsel Littler Mendelson and more. Plus, the webpage will include the latest updates on federal legislative actions related to coronavirus. 

In order to keep the information current, the webpage will be updated on a daily basis.

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On March 6, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill that, among many other things, gave the Small Business Administration the ability to issue an economic injury disaster loan declaration pertaining to coronavirus. 

The loans offer up to $2 million in assistance for a small business. These low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital can provide economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue for small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the coronavirus. 

The loans are made available upon a request received from a state’s or territory’s governor, at which point the SBA will issue the loans under its own authority. The funds may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses, while the interest rate for nonprofits is 2.75%.

 Find more information on the SBA’s economic injury disaster loans at: SBA.gov/Disaster.

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Construction Spending

Source: Census Bureau Value of Construction Put in Place Survey Annual Historical Data and “Annual Total Table”

Total Private Employment

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Table 42

Excludes the self-employed. Only annual data are available.

Construction Spending Forecast Assumptions

Starting with annual construction spending data for 2019 ($1.30 trillion), the estimate assumes 3% growth (to $1.34 trillion) for 2020 and 3% growth above the previous year’s construction spending level for 2021 and 2022, to $1.38 trillion and $1.42 trillion, respectively.

Construction Spending and Job Creation

According to a model developed by Markstein Advisors to calculate the relationship between the volume of construction spending and demand for private construction employment (excluding the self-employed), every $1 billion in extra in overall construction spending generates an average of at least 6,500 construction jobs. Every $1 billion in extra construction spending on infrastructure generates an average of at least 3,300 construction jobs.

Employment Demand Forecast

According to a model developed by Markstein Advisors to estimate total private construction employment demand based on the amount of construction spending, contractors would like to hire 550,000 additional workers in 2020 compared to 2019.

In 2019, ABC estimated the U.S. construction industry needed to hire 440,000 more workers compared to 2018. This figure is consistent with sources reporting employment and available jobs in construction (such as the BLS JOLTS report). The actual BLS 2019 year-over-year construction employment increase was just 325,000. The lower employment figure was due in part to the lack of available skilled labor, rising wages and increased use of labor-saving technologies including prefabrication and modularization. The workforce shortage has also contributed to reduced annual construction spending compared to the original ABC estimate, as the shortage of skilled labor forced some builders to slow the pace of construction to make the best use of their existing labor force or not to bid on projects because of high labor costs. At the same time, the increased cost of construction due to higher labor and materials costs resulted in clients scaling back or eliminating some contemplated projects.

The model to estimate the demand for construction labor adjusts for expected increases in construction costs because construction spending is in nominal dollars (i.e., not adjusted for inflation). Also, the model includes productivity gains in construction, reducing the amount of labor needed to produce a certain dollar amount of construction output. At the same time, the model includes the shift in the mix of projects and added regulations that affect the number of workers needed to complete a project.

Finally, the model is based on construction wages and salaries remaining at 2019 levels (last year’s forecast was based on 2018 wage levels). Higher wages and salaries would reduce the demand for labor. Wages are likely to increase in 2020 and beyond, particularly for skilled labor that is in greatest demand. That will further encourage the use of various technologies that augments or replaces labor and software that promotes better scheduling of labor and materials delivery and reduces the use of labor. The net result will be somewhat lower demand for labor than shown by the model. However, these adjustments take time, so the reduction in the demand for labor in a single year is fairly small (likely less than 5% of estimated demand). Hiring of construction workers will be limited more by lack of qualified workers than by employers reducing demand for these workers.

Employment Demand Forecast with Additional Infrastructure Spending

For the last several years, Congress and the administration have discussed the urgent need to pass a comprehensive infrastructure package with little success. Nonetheless, ABC remains hopeful that such legislation will be enacted into law, especially as the Highway Trust Fund will become insolvent in 2021. For the purpose of this estimate, a $250 billion-dollar infrastructure package spread out over three years would result in: $25 billion in additional construction spending the first year; $75 billion additional spending the second year; and an additional $150 billion the third year. As a result of this uptick in spending, demand for construction workers would total an additional 82,500 workers in the first year, 247,500 workers the second year and 495,000 workers the third year.

Please note, this forecast does not take into consideration any affects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

ABC issues news monthly news releases on construction-related economic data and trends, including on federal construction spending, employment, GDP and the Producer Price Index data, as well as state-by-state construction unemployment estimates. In addition, ABC produces the Construction Backlog Indicator, the only economic indicator that reflects the amount of work that will be performed by commercial and industrial construction contractors in the months ahead, and the Construction Confidence Index, a diffusion index that signals construction contractors’ expectations for sales, profit margins and staffing levels.

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On March 10, ABC joined several other organizations in submitting comments to the Council on Environmental Quality in support of proposed revisions to its regulations implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, which has not been updated for more than four decades. The proposal would modernize and clarify the regulations to facilitate more efficient, effective and timely NEPA reviews by federal agencies in connection with proposals for agency action. Learn more about the NEPA proposal here. 

The coalition letter states, “We fully support the fundamental goals of NEPA to appropriately consider the potential environmental impacts of federal actions. The Coalition believes that CEQ’s proposed revisions refocus federal NEPA reviews on NEPA’s original purpose to facilitate excellent agency action through informed decision-making, accomplished through the same balanced goals as the original 1978 NEPA regulations: “to reduce paperwork, to reduce delays, and at the same time to produce better decisions which further the national policy to protect and enhance the quality of the human environment.” We urge CEQ to finalize updates to the NEPA implementing regulations to modernize the federal environmental review and permitting process under NEPA, with the goal of increasing infrastructure investment and project development in a manner that strengthens our economy and enhances environmental stewardship.”

On Jan. 9, ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman and Miller and Long employees Alan Michael Jenkins and James Spencer Johnson joined President Trump at the White House for the announcement of CEQ’s proposed rule. ABC stated, “ABC supports the modernization of these critical regulations and believes that these enhancements will go a long way toward eliminating unnecessary delays that cause budget overruns in construction. Creating a coordinated, predictable and transparent process to streamline permitting will enable the industry to plan and execute even the most complex projects while safeguarding our communities, maintaining a healthy environment and being good stewards of public funds.”

ABC is a member of the Unlock American Investment coalition, which says, “Updating NEPA will reduce delays hindering critical projects, resulting in better infrastructure, a stronger economy and continued environmental stewardship. Modernizing NEPA is the key to unblocking investments.” To learn more, see the coalition’s fact sheet.

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On March 11, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule , officially titled Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations, which establishes a process for creating high-quality, industry-recognized apprenticeship programs by organizations that apply to become DOL recognized Standards Recognition Entities. The rule prohibits SREs from recognizing IRAPs in the construction sector. DOL’s press release on the proposal is available here.

Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Health, Safety, Environment and Workforce Development Greg Sizemore today issued the following statement on the release of the final Department of Labor industry-recognized apprenticeship rule:

“All U.S. workers should have the opportunity to participate in DOL’s new industry programs, particularly as federal registered apprenticeship programs supply only a small fraction of the construction industry’s workforce. ABC, our 69 chapters and 21,000-plus members will continue to utilize an all-of-the-above education approach to ensure our workforce meets the highest standards for safety and quality craftsmanship, which has been and will remain our top priority. ABC members invested $1.6 billion to educate their employees in 2018, up from $1.1 billion in 2013, according to the results of ABC’s 2019 Workforce Development Survey. The 45% increase in spending resulted in nearly twice as many course attendees—more than 980,000—receiving craft, leadership and safety education to advance their careers in commercial and industrial construction.”

Learn more about the final rule here:

On Aug. 26, ABC submitted comments on the DOL’s proposed rule on apprenticeship programs,  recommending an “all-of-the-above” approach to workforce development to the DOL.

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