There is good news and not-so-good news for contractors following four years of gradually accelerating activity. On the positive front, construction spending has increased by nearly one-fourth since its low point at the beginning of 2011, and contractors have added more than 600,000 workers to their payrolls. However, the pool of available talent has nearly evaporated. In October, the number of experienced construction workers who reported they were still looking for work fell to an eight-year low. A survey that AGC of America released in October found that 83 percent of responding construction firms reported difficulty filling craft positions. In addition, 61 percent of the nearly 1,100 respondents said they had difficulty finding other types of professionals.
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