CONTRACTORS ARE SHOWING SIGNS ofoptimism about increasing volumes of work in 2019 - and with good reason. But there are also three reasons to be cautious.On the positive side, the economy continues to expand, employment is steadily rising in nearly all states, and business and consumer confidence remains high. These indicators all suggest that demand for construction will not slacken, at least early in the year.Construction employment has been increasing even faster than total non-farm payroll employment - nearly three times as fast. Between October 2017 and October 2018, construction employment jumped 4.9 percent, compared to 1.7 percent for the overall economy. That's a strong vote of confidence in the outlook for continued demand for projects. Despite this rapid increase in headcount, job openings in construction have been setting records in recent months, suggesting that contractors would hire even more workers if they could.
展开▼
