The construction industry added 110,000 jobs in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released recently by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry has added 931,000 jobs since April 2020, recovering 83.6% of the jobs lost during earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The construction unemployment rate fell to 8.6% in March from 9.6% in February, but it is still 1.7 percentage points higher than in March 2020. Unemployment across all industries declined from 6.2% in February to 6.0% in March.

Reprinted courtesy of ABC, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.

State-funded construction projects are among the top beneficiaries of a $1.5-billion budget surplus carved up by Utah lawmakers during the 2021 legislative session that ended March 6.

While the AEC industry has largely transitioned to BIM over the last decade, it’s only been more recently where new design technologies have emerged for the built environment, further extending what’s possible with BIM. These new technologies include digital fabrication, real-time visualization, virtual and mixed reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, generative design, reality modelling, IoT and the development of digital twins. In fact, the industry is already seeing accelerated adoption of these emerging technologies out of necessity.

With the challenges of working remote coupled with project delays, the entire building industry is looking for creative ways to maximize project efficiency. What technology trends can be expected to dominate this space in 2021?

Reprinted courtesy of Chris Ruffo, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.

Green construction is not going anywhere but up in 2021, and reaching LEED certification is an important goal of many builders. But like anything, the devil lies in the details, and it can be a challenge for design teams and contractors to meet LEED material requirements. We spoke with Tommy Linstroth, CEO of Green Badger, a provider of cloud-based LEED documentation management services, to learn more about how the construction industry can face this challenge.

Q: What is the main hurdle to understanding LEED-compliant materials requirements?
A: One of the biggest challenges is learning about and understanding the LEED requirements. And even though they've been out for a couple of years now, following and implementing these guidelines is not common practice yet in the construction industry. There are pockets in the industry that tend to comply, but it’s still more common that they do not.

Reprinted courtesy of Tommy Linstroth, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.

The pandemic has accelerated vast changes in the workplace and exposed critical gaps employers and their employees face on a day-to-day basis. One of the top contenders? The challenges women face simply showing up to work.

More than 600,000 women left the U.S. workforce in September—that’s eight times more than the number of men. On top of that, one in four women is considering downshifting her career or leaving the workforce entirely.

Reprinted courtesy of Laura Beebe, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.

The new Sixth Street Viaduct, when completed next year, will be hard to miss. Ten pairs of continuous arches will create a sinuous profile as the 3,060-ft-long, 100-ft-wide viaduct soars over the 101 Freeway, several railroads, the LA River and the downtown Los Angeles arts district.

Over the last several months, much has been written about essential workers, which includes those in the construction industry. The build environment requires workers to be on jobsites daily while also risking exposure to COVID-19. Since the onset of the pandemic, construction workers have had to work quickly and nimbly to adjust to the new realities of a COVID-19 world.

With COVID-19 disproportionately affecting Hispanic communities, it is important to highlight the role the Hispanic community plays in the construction industry and the impact they have on the future of cities. In California, nearly one-third of construction workers are Hispanic.

Reprinted courtesy of Ed Segovia, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.

Go to any property and construction technology panel and someone is inevitably going to say that the construction industry has been slower than other sectors to adopt tech-forward practices, but this ignores how responsive construction has been to solving problems for as long as people have been building.

Reprinted courtesy of Cyrus Izzo, ENR and Phillip Ross, ENR

Despite California’s strict government interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s economy is poised for post-pandemic growth at a faster rate than the rest of the U.S, says a new report from the University of California-Los Angeles Anderson School of Management.

In the coming weeks and months, COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed around the United States. Employers will have questions about vaccination procedures, such as whether they may require employees to be vaccinated, what they may ask about employees’ vaccination records, and whether they must accommodate employees with religious opposition to being vaccinated. Recently, the EEOC updated its guidance, What You Should Know About COVD-19 and the ADA Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws, to address these vaccination concerns. This alert addresses the essential points of the EEOC’s guidance.

Reprinted courtesy of Amy R. Patton, Payne & Fears, James R. Moss, Jr., Payne & Fears and Raymond J. Nhan, Payne & Fears
Ms. Patton may be contacted at arp@paynefears.com
Mr. Moss may be contacted at jrm@paynefears.com
Mr. Nhan may be contacted at rjn@paynefears.com

COVID-19 has changed how people live, work and interact in their personal and professional lives. While time will bring back some semblance of normalcy, there will be some facets that will be changed for the foreseeable future. That is clearly the case in the construction industry as it has had to quickly navigate and rethink safety, supply chain issues, design changes and more, many of which have been “in the works” for years. Many of these sweeping changes and new approaches, discussed below, will remain in place long after the outbreak has subsided.

Reprinted courtesy of Deanna L. Koestel, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.