Original article written by Max Diamond on The News & Observer

North Carolina's construction industry has been hit with higher costs — and is bracing for them to go higher still — as steel and aluminum suppliers react to President Donald Trump's executive order increasing tariffs on those imports.

"Steel is everywhere in construction," said David Simpson, president of Carolinas AGC, a construction trade association. It is used in concrete, in bridges, to make the structure of buildings, for beams, in staircases, interior walls, and in hardware.

On March 8, Trump signed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The president has said higher tariffs are needed to avoid further weakening America's domestic steel production, and risk a steel shortage in a national emergency.

According to data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national construction industry lost 15,000 net jobs in March. This represents a significant reversal from February, when the industry added a post-recession high of 65,000 net new jobs (upwardly revised from +61,000)

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc (ABC)

Full release

Key Takeaways

• Nonresidential construction spending increased 0.1 percent in February, totaling $732.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis.
• Public sector nonresidential spending fell 2.2 percent
• “Nonresidential spending growth remains tepid. Reasons for this trend include capacity constraints that continue to beleaguer contractors struggling to find enough skilled construction tradespeople, estimators and project managers."
• “Concerns regarding rising materials prices are also becoming more intense, particularly in light of the recent enactment of tariffs on steel and aluminum and growing fears of a trade war and materials shortages. Softwood lumber prices, which have been impacted by an ongoing trade dispute with Canada, were up nearly 16 percent over a recent 12-month period."

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.

Key Takeaways

• Nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.1 percent in January, totaling $732.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking a decline from the previous 5 months of increases.
• Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending increasing 0.3 percent in January after a previously reported 0.7 percent advance in December. Construction spending increased 3.2 percent on a year-on-year basis.
• “Potential double-digit tariffs or import restrictions on steel and aluminum could wreck the budgets for numerous infrastructure projects and private nonresidential investments."

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.

Article written by Jotham ​Sederstrom on Inman.com, March 1, 2018

The president today announced he would subject imports of the two metals to 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs respectively.

Following pledges made during his 2016 campaign and again as president, Donald Trump on Thursday announced a long-promised initiative to impose stiff tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel to the U.S., an aggressive policy stance that instantly sent the Dow tumbling 500 points while causing construction leaders and housing analysts to brace for the worst.

Short on details and far from a done deal, the trade measure as outlined on Thursday would impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, raising the price of everything from canned beer and soda to automobiles and housing, not least of all skyscrapers and multifamily buildings deeply reliant on heavy metals, housing experts told Inman.

Article written by Tom Ichniowski on ENR.com

If President Trump adopts Commerce Dept. recommendations to impose severe trade penalties on steel and aluminum imports from China and other foreign countries, prices for construction steel and aluminum products would jump and some contractors could suffer a financial blow, industry economists predict.

The proposals—which Commerce sent to President Trump on Jan. 11 but didn’t release publicly until Feb. 16—include two that would apply to steel imports from all countries: a tariff of at least 24% and a quota that equals 63% of each country’s 2017 steel exports to the U.S. [View Commerce's steel report here.]

Two other options would apply to steel imports from China, Brazil, India, Korea, Russia and seven other countries—a minimum tariff of 53% and a quota equaling 100% of their 2017 steel exports to the U.S.

According to data released Friday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national construction industry added 36,000 net new jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in January. Nonresidential construction employment added 16,400 net new jobs in December, mostly in nonresidential specialty trade contractors.

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc (ABC)

Full release

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2—Today’s employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows growth in both public and private construction spending, according to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Construction added 36,000 net new jobs in January, an impressive increase of 0.5 percent on a month-over-month basis.

Also, 32 States and D.C. Add Jobs Between November and December

January 23, 2018 Press release from Associated General Contractors of America

California & Nevada Have Biggest Job Gains for the Year, Iowa and Missouri Have Largest Declines;California and Montana Add the Most Jobs for the Month while New Jersey Loses the Most Jobs

Forty-two states added construction jobs between December 2016 and December 2017, while 32 states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between November and December, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data released today. Association officials said a new federal infrastructure measure would help guarantee continued employment gains in the sector.

“Construction employment is expanding in many parts of the country in large part because of strong private-sector demand,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Any new public-sector investments, particularly for infrastructure projects, would help accelerate job gains in many parts of the country.”

AGC announces that 75% of construction firms plan to expand headcount and ABC predicts stable 2018 construction economy

Seventy-five percent of construction firms plan to expand headcount in 2018, contractors are optimistic about strong economy, tax & regulatory cuts

Seventy-five percent of construction firms plan to expand their payrolls in 2018 as contractors are optimistic that economic conditions will remain strong as tax rates and regulatory burdens fall, according to survey results released today by the Associated General Contractors of America and Sage Construction and Real Estate. Despite the general optimism outlined in Expecting Growth to Continue: The 2018 Construction Industry Hiring and Business Outlook, many firms report they remain worried about workforce shortages and infrastructure funding.