(A release from Associated Builders and Contractors.) Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2011 National Chairman Michael J. Uremovich, president of Great Lakes Energy Consultants, LLC, Manhattan, Ill., says President Obama’s jobs plan “won’t pass inspection” with the construction industry when it comes to creating jobs and getting Americans back to work. “We ...

Here is an overview of the jobs program, including elements directly affecting the construction industry, being proposed by President Obama, as laid out in a release from the White House press office: THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT 1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow Cutting the payroll tax in half ...

Construction materials prices are 8.9 percent higher than they were one year ago, according to the Aug. 17 Producer Price Index (PPI) report by the Department of Labor. Prices rose a modest 0.3 percent in July. Two segments of construction inputs were associated with particularly large changes in prices for the ...

(A release from the Associated General Contractors of America.) Construction employment increased in 26 states between July 2010 and July 2011, as well as during the past month, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of state employment data released by the Labor Department. The relatively even split ...

As part of continuing educational efforts by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration about the dangers of extreme heat, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis has announced the release of a free application for mobile devices that will enable workers and supervisors to monitor the heat ...

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw proposed numeric limits on the amount of dirt the agency will allow in stormwater from construction sites: "The fact ...

(From a release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.) U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced $417.3 million in grants to fund a range of projects ranging from interstate maintenance to research into innovative bridge materials and construction methods. "Transportation investments like these will create jobs, increase mobility, improve quality of life ...

The amount contractors pay for construction materials and charge for completed projects both increased in July, as firms were finally able to charge more for work, according to an analysis of producer price index figures by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said, however, that it was too early ...

The industry group Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reports that its Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI), which measures the amount of construction work under contract to be completed in the future, increased 10 percent in the second quarter of 2011 to an average of 8.1 months, up from 7.3 months the previous ...

Going to bat for the construction industry, Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman appeared on CNBC and called for U.S. policymakers to create and fund a strong program to maintain and improve the nation's transportation infrastructure. Caterpillar is based in Peoria, Ill., and has many of its key factories in that ...

(Adapted from ohsonline.com) OSHA has levied proposed penalties totaling $73,000 have been against NPL Construction Co. for two safety violations for exposing workers to excavation hazards while connecting an underground natural gas line in Auburn, Ala. The citations resulted from an April inspection. NPL Construction is a Phoenix-based pipeline construction company employing about ...

Yes, America's got talent. And Gary Russo, a construction worker in New York City, doesn't need a fancy stage or TV cameras to prove it. Russo, equipped with a microphone, spends his lunch hours singing for audiences passing by. At a recent jobsite, a handwritten sign hung nearby invited people to ...