Jobs return...but not the money...
Housing market slowing...
And U.S. equipment rental rosy forecast
That and more on Construction News Tracker brought to you by Caterpillar and produced by ForConstructionPros.com
All those jobs lost as a result of the 2008 recession have been recovered, but not the wages paid on them.
So says the U.S. Conference of Mayors. High income workers continue to build wealth rates faster than middle and lower income workers. As a result the top 20 percent of wage earners between 2005 and 2012 generated 60 percent of all income gains while the lower 40 percent managed only 6.6 percent of wage increases during the period. Metro areas of the coastal U.S. generate the largest income, followed by the Midwest and Northwest middle income folks, and those earning the least defined as under $35,000 annually are in the South.
34 States Add Construction Jobs in July 2014
The latest from Reed Construction Data on the U.S. value of construction starts in July indicates they are off by 19.5 percent versus June. Reed says the trend from a great start in spring has dropped significantly. Nonresidential building counts more than residential for total construction, and the data shows nonresidential building now is no higher than it was eight to 10 years ago.
Nonresidential Construction Starts Fall Nearly 20% in July
In a related story, gradually improving is how the National Association of Homebuilders characterizes America's housing recovery. Fifty-six of 350 markets nationwide reached their normal housing activity in the past year. The lagging indes is seen at 43 percent of normal single family housing permits being issued, though they too ar growing.
US Housing Starts Leap 15.7% in July
So, where are the best markets for housing construction right now? Baton Rouge and New Oreleans; Oklahoma City; Houston and Austin, Texas; Salt Lake City; Des Moines, Iowa; and to the west Los Angeles, San Jose and Honolulu.
Virginia's DOT has constructed a roadway of the future. It's a 1.5-mile stretch imbedded with sensors that can measure just about anything tossed at them as Tony Dorsey of ASSTO tells us.
Equipment rental revenue can see a 7.6 percent growth rate for 2014 generating $35.8 billion in revenue and surpassing the GDP by four times. And that's just the beginning. IHS Global Insight, which compiled the stats for the American Rental Association, says the industry can look forward to better than 10 percent growth in 2015.
The 52-mile-long northern beltline corridor around Birminghama, Ala., is coming together. Wright Brothers Construction is charged with building the first two miles of the massive new highway. Even archeologist are involved recording artifacts uncovered by the construction crews to document human history of the area. The $5.4 billion project will take years to complete, although the first segment is due to handle traffic in 2016.
In closing, a program is a spell cast over a computer turning input into error messages.
