2022 Marcum National Construction Survey

Despite Headwinds, Contractors Remain Upbeat continued By Anirban Basu, Chief Construction Economist

True, America’s gross domestic product declined during the year’s initial three months. The latest estimate from the Commerce Department indicates that the U.S. economy shrank at a 1.5 percent annualized rate during 2022’s first quarter. But this was more statistical than revealing. Consumer spending on goods and services and business spending on equipment remained strong. The dip in output was primarily attributable to diminished federal spending, a relative dearth of inventory accumulation, and surging imports, which subtract from growth in the context of GDP accounting.

As has been the case for much of the pandemic period, the construction industry has fared better than the balance of the economy. While the overall economy has recovered 94.6 percent of the jobs lost at pandemic outset, construction achieved 100 percent recovery in April. Workers are returning to a very different set of circumstances. While they were in high demand prior to the pandemic, demand for them these days is simply extraordinary. As of March, there were 11.5 million available, unfilled jobs in America. Construction was associated with 396,000 of those unfilled positions, remarkably high by industry standards. Wages are accordingly racing higher along with other forms of compensation as employers chase for incredibly scarce human capital. Recently, construction wages have been rising at their fastest pace in 40 years. In short, workers are scarce, precious, empowered, and some might add, spoiled. They are also quitting their jobs at a near- record pace, bouncing from job to job in search of higher pay, greater flexibility, or both. Roughly 3 percent of workers voluntarily quit their jobs in March, which translates into 4.5 million people. That’s a record. Fewer than 1 percent were laid off or discharged. Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking such things in 2000, the rate at which workers were laid off/discharged had never dipped below 1 percent prior to March 2021.

In short, workers are scarce, precious, empowered, and some might add, spoiled.” – ANIRBAN BASU

2022 MARCUM NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION SURVEY 22