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Economists: Construction industry has turned corner

Prediction: construction spending will grow 6 to 10 percent annually through 2017.


Three economists in the construction industry participated in a webinar last week to discuss the state of the building industry and where it might be going. They agreed that the industry has turned a corner after the collapse in construction during the Great Recession. Spending is up and unemployment is down. Much of the activity is due to growth in petroleum, manufacturing and information technology. Spending on commercial and industrial projects is expected to increase over the next few years, but engineering projects may not fare as well.

The turning point in the building industry dawned in May 2014, when the “total employment level reached its prerecession level” and companies stopped looking in the rear-view mirror trying to outrun the Great Recession and started to think again of the future. So said Alex Carrick, North American chief economist at CMD during last week’s webinar on the state of the industry.

The webinar, hosted by CMD, formerly Reed Construction Data, and sponsored by Infotech, also included the industry’s other top economists, Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors of America and Kermit Baker of the American Institute of Architects who proffered their perspectives.

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