Wait bearing down on construction industry

Published: February 11, 2010
Tags: blog, Construction, Hot Topics, jobs, recession, unemployment, Yovino

By Joe Yovino

web editor

Have you ever waited for something so long the wait actually becomes the something?

Steelmakers predict gradual recovery (10:26 a.m. 1/27/10)

Published: January 27, 2010
Tags: automotive, Construction, consumer products, Hyundai, industrial equipment, Kia, Nucor Corp., steel industry, Thomson Reuters, United States Steel Corp.

By Sandy Shore
AP Business Writer
Denver — Steelmakers are seeing the first blush of a recovery with more orders from manufacturers of autos, appliances and similar products. Yet, the battered industry’s full recovery has been stalled largely by a sluggish construction market.
Officials at United States Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. this week indicated they believe the [...]

Railroads signal a tepid U.S. economic recovery (1:40 p.m. 1/22/10)

Published: January 22, 2010
Tags: Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., coal, Construction, CSX Corp., demand, economy, industry, products, railroad, recession, recovery, shipments, shipping, transport, Union Pacific Corp.
Comments: 1

By Josh Funk
AP Business Writer
Omaha, Neb. — The nation’s railroad operators expect a tepid recovery for the U.S. economy in 2010, as both businesses and consumers continue to wrestle with the effects of the recession.
The severe economic slump cut shipping demand for the railroads because American consumers and industries have been buying fewer of the [...]

Stimulus not doing much construction stimulating

By Joe Yovino

web editor

Ten months may seem like a century for the beleaguered construction industry as it waits for a jump-start from the U.S government. But it might take another 10 months or longer for the rebound in construction to take effect if you put stock in an Associated Press report released Monday.

November housing construction up 8.9 percent

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes, helped by better weather, rebounded in November following a setback in the previous month.
The gain is a hopeful sign that the housing recovery is continuing, a development viewed as critical to lifting the overall economy out of recession.
According to the Commerce Department, construction of [...]

Unemployed laborers flock to the classroom (UPDATE)

Published: November 30, 2009
Tags: AGC, Associated General Contractors of America, Construction, Fisher, Friedl, jobs, Schmitt, training, unemployment, Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council
Comments: 2

By Sean Ryan
Al Friedl is turning people away at the door of his construction training classes because he doesn’t have enough desks to match the number of unemployed workers seeking new skills.
“I need a bigger building,” said Friedl, director of training for the Wisconsin Laborers Apprenticeship and Training Center, “and it’s only four years old.”
Laborers [...]

Letter: Committed to apprenticeship diversity

To the editor:
We in the Department of Workforce Development take issue with a number of the points in your recent article on Wisconsin’s apprenticeship program. For the record, we completely support the need for racial diversity in construction apprenticeships, and since 2002, we have made progress in increasing the representation of minorities in the apprenticeship [...]

Benefits edge cost for rail safety program

Published: November 25, 2009
Tags: Balfour Beatty Rail, Beaver, Construction, fatalities, Federal Railroad Administration, railroad, safety, Track Guy Consultants, Zuspan

By Sean Ryan
The federal government figured one life is worth $5.8 million when deciding if it is worth the cost to make railroad construction workers safer.
A person who will die if new safety rules are not mandated is referred to as a “statistical life” by government analysts who compare costs and benefits of new programs. [...]

Surviving the industry’s downtown

By Larry Michael
The run-up the construction industry experienced throughout the 1990s was actually a 14-year market expansion.
That’s quite a party, and the aftermath will be quite a hangover. Most industry cycles are shorter and less severe, so the payback this time will be significant.
The key is to know and understand at all times where the [...]

Weak home building a drag on economic recovery (10:59 a.m. 11/18/09)

By ALAN ZIBEL and MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Business Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The budding economic recovery is getting little help from the home building industry, which normally creates jobs and boosts growth as a recession ends.
Construction of homes unexpectedly plunged last month to its lowest point since April, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The weak figures show [...]