The new survey by Associated General Contractors of America provides a generally upbeat outlook for the year even as firms worry about growing worker shortages, rising costs and the impact of new regulations and federal budget-cutting.
“Contractors are more optimistic about 2014 than they have been in a long time,” said Stephen Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. “While the industry has a long way to go before it returns to the employment and activity levels it experienced in the middle of the last decade, conditions are heading in the right direction.”
Sandherr noted that many firms plan to begin hiring again, while relatively few plan to start making layoffs. Forty-one percent of firms that did not change staff levels last year report they plan to start expanding payrolls in 2014, while only 2% plan to start making layoffs. However, net hiring is likely to be relatively modest, with 86% of firms reporting they plan to hire 25 or fewer new employees this year.
Among the 19 states with large enough survey sample sizes, 100 percent of firms that did not change staffing levels last year in Utah plan to start hiring new staff this year, more than in any other state.
Contractors have a relatively positive outlook for virtually all 11 market segments covered in the survey, in particular for private-sector segments.
Among public sector segments, contractors are particularly optimistic about demand for new water and sewer construction and mildly optimistic about the market for highway construction. Respondents are almost equally divided regarding the outlook for the other four segments - public buildings, schools, transportation facilities other than highways and marine construction.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
