A recent report from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) looking at construction activity year-over-year shows a slight increase in construction spending for the year ending in August 2019. Total construction spending rose 0.3-percent relative to the same point in 2018, resulting in $773.8 billion of economic activity. 

The report shows that private nonresidential spending is down nearly 2.8-percent from August 2018 while public non-residential construction spending is up 4.8-percent for the year. 

ABC chief economist Anirban Basu tells Building Design + Construction, “All of this is consistent with a slowing economy, especially as measures such as industrial production and capacity utilization remain stagnant." 

Basu added, “While this could be attributed to trade wars and a slowing global economy, construction dynamics are rarely so simple. Another likely explanation is that America’s growing shortage of skilled construction workers has driven up the cost of delivering construction services, even in the context of flat materials prices, resulting in more project owners delaying projects."