The employment report that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on December 4 contains tentative good news. The unemployment rate fell from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent in November, seasonally adjusted. Job losses fell to 11,000, the lowest monthly decline since the recession began in December 2007.Even the construction industry showed partial improvement, thought it was likely due to unseasonably warm and dry weather. Seasonally adjusted construction job losses dropped in half, to 27,700. For the first time in more than a year, one of the five construction segments-heavy and civil engineering construction-recorded a monthly gain (5,200 jobs, or 0.6%).However, the overall picture for construction remains dismal. The industry's unemployment rate in November was again the highest of any industry at 19.4 percent, more than double the all-worker average of 9.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (Industry rates are not available on a seasonally adjusted basis.) Even the heavy and civil engineering employment gain is suspect, because that segment is particularly sensitive to weather conditions, which may have been milder than usual.Two forward-looking indicators of construction employment are ominous. Architectural and engineering services employment fell again in November, bringing the one-year job loss in that industry to 8.1 percent. If designers are cutting jobs now, there will be fewer projects for contractors to bid on next year.On December 8, Manpower Inc., released its latest quarterly survey of hiring plans for next quarter among 28,000 U.S. employers in 12 sectors. In all four regions of the country, construction had by far the most negative hiring outlook. Between 18 percent and 27 percent of construction firms expect to decrease employment, while only 8 percent to 12 percent expect an increase, for a net employment outlook ranging from -8 percent in the South to -19 percent in the Northeast. In comparison, the all-employment national outlook is for no net change in employment in the first quarter of 2010.Quick enactment of legislation to provide more funding for highways and other public works could add momentum to the one-month rise in heavy and civil engineering construction. But total nonresidential employment is not likely to turn positive until the economy has grown for several quarters.For more information, contact Ken Simonson at (703) 837-5313 or simonsonk@agc.org.

A Bloomberg article states that "Tax-exempt bonds are an 'inefficient' way to subsidize state and local borrowing for infrastructure like roads and schools and cost the U.S. Treasury $26 billion a year, a congressional study says.  States and cities benefit more from Qualified School Construction Bonds, which provide federal tax credits, and Build America Bonds that subsidize interest costs."For the entire article, please click here.

By a vote of 217-212 the House last week passed H.R. 2847, "Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010," legislation intended to stimulate job growth. Included in the bill are funds for various infrastructure investments.Funding includes:$27.5 billion for highways (freight and passenger rail and port projects also eligible);$8.4 billion for transit;$500 million for Airport Improvement Program grants;$800 million for Amtrak fleet modernization;$1 billion for clean water state revolving funds;$1 billion for drinking water grants;$2 billion for school and public housing rehabilitation;$715 million for navigation and flood control projects by the Army Corps of Engineers; and$100 million in water supply projects by the Bureau of Reclamation.The highway funds will be distributed to states by the same formula that was used to distribute stimulus funds previously provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). States are not required to provide any matching dollars to be eligible to receive the highway funds. States would be required to have fifty percent of the funds under contract within 90 days or lose the remaining funds (to be redistributed to states that have met this requirement). The second fifty percent must be under contract within one year or be lost to other successful states. This is a far more stringent requirement than ARRA, which required funds to be "obligated" rather than under contract. These funds are provided on top of funding that comes through the traditional program. Additional Buy American requirements would be applied to highway and transit projects.Projects funded with the clean water and drinking water grants must be under contract in eight months. All of the infrastructure spending is subject to the same Buy American requirements included in the ARRA, which AGC opposed, as well as other reporting requirements.Although this bill is not expected to be taken up in the Senate until after the first of the year, AGC will continue to press for additional investments in infrastructure during the 111th Congress.For more information, contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.

According to a Reed Construction Data article, a 4 to 5% commercial construction decline is expected to occur from August through next winter, particularly hitting the hotel industry. Though the retail sector is not expected to be hit hard again, there is only a 5% expected increase over the next year, with any new construction doubtful.Large declines from luxury and destination hotels are predeicted to fall even further over the next nine months, evidenced by the large Las Vegas projects struggling toward completion.  A relatively small decline in office construction is partially due to stimulus dollars that will be spent this year on federal offices. For the entire article and a spreadsheet of key market indicators for October 2009, click here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has for the first time imposed nationwide monitoring requirements and enforceable numeric limits on the amount of sediment that can run off any construction site that impacts 10 or more acres of land at any one time, despite AGC's years-long effort to explain the detrimental effect on the construction industry.The rule, finalized on November 23, specifies the exact types of erosion and sediment controls that contractors must use, at a bare minimum, to control stormwater runoff on all construction sites that disturb one or more acres of land.  The rule will take effect in February 2010 and be phased in over four years. Specific requirements and other details here.AGC will continue making the case for construction companies nationwide on the harmful impact of poorly-planned environmental mandates.For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at (703) 837-5332 or pilconisl@agc.org.

The past year has been full of challenges and opportunities for the construction industry.  Each day, AGC of America has been working hard to represent Building Contractors.  Whether through the AGC Building Division, advocacy, safety and health, environment, labor and workforce, education and training or contract documents...AGC is focused on protecting your interests, helping your business, and improving your industry.Please click here to review a summary of some of the major AGC of America activities of the past year on behalf of Building Contractors.  For more information, please contact Mike Stark, Senior Director, Building Division at starkm@agc.org.

Registration & Hotel Deadline is December 30, 2009 The AGC Building Contractors Conference will offer a chance to learn more about Lean Construction with the debut of the Lean Construction Forum, which was established to create a community where anyone within the AEC industry can come together to engage in a dialog on Lean Construction.  The Forum will unveil a Web site soon and is currently developing educational resources and learning opportunities on the use of Lean principals in the construction industry.  More than seven hours of Lean Construction content will be presented on January 21 in San Juan.The AGC Building Contractors Conference consistently offers forward-thinking, practical guidance that is crucial and necessary, now more than ever. In addition to the Lean Construction Forum, presentations include: Business of Safety, Green Construction Risks, Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update and Contractor Surety Issues.Register today!   The registration discount and hotel rate expire on December 30, 2009.  Be sure to take a look at the free AGC Travel Assistance Guide for discounts on airfare and car rental, as well as non-stop and direct flight information from many major U.S. airports to San Juan.  For more information about the January 2010 Building Contractors Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, visit www.agc.org/bcc.  Sponsorship opportunities are available.

Through a competitive request for proposal process that kicked off on August 6, 2009, AGC selected Enovio, LLC out of Ann Arbor, Mich., to conduct research and develop a course plan for a comprehensive curriculum to educate professionals in the commercial construction community at all experience levels on lean construction. Pending the findings of the research project and outcome of the course plan development, AGC plans to develop the lean curriculum in 2010.This effort was generated from a Building Division Chapter Staff Subcommittee meeting where contractor attendees as well as chapter staff discussed an industry need for additional training on Lean Construction and specifically implementing Lean principles within firms.Phase 1 of the project, which included conducting comprehensive research that will aide in development of the course plan, was launched on October 12. The research portion of the project began with a survey to building contractors to gauge their level of awareness and adoption of Lean principles within construction firms.  The Enovio team has done an excellent job pulling together the details of a curriculum that is planned to be delivered in conjunction with AGC Chapters. The research project will be complete on December 31, 2009, and the full report will be presented to the Building Contractors Conference and first ever AGC Lean Construction Forum meeting on January 21, 2010 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For additional information about the entire conference and to register, visit www.agc.org/bcc.Please contact Amy Fields at fieldsa@agc.org or Mike Stark at starkm@agc.org with questions about this initiative.

The Specialty Contractor's Subforum of the AGC BIMForum has created the MEP Spatial Coordination Team Requirements for Building Information Modeling. This document provides guidance to companies and individuals involved in 3D MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Fire Protection) spatial coordination. Its aim is to help the MEP spatial coordination process using 3D and BIM technology and to assist in developing team structures, definition of roles and responsibilities, recommendations for technical and IT considerations, social structure, and accountability. The document can be accessed here: MEP Spatial Coordination Requirements for BIM.

January 11-15, 2010 in Phoenix, AZ The Winter 2010 BIMForum will focus on the varied uses of a building information model for the life of the project - from design to construction to post-facilities management. In addition, the Winter BIMForum will include an optional BIM Technology course and a Pre-Fabrication Facilities Tour for interested attendees. Learn more at http://bimforum.org.