More than 1,100 attended the annual State Construction Conference in Raleigh on March 7.
Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America’s chief economist Ken Simonson told the gathering that the construction outlook looks solid for 2017.
You view Simonson’s presentation documentation here.
Simonson, who has been a keynote speaker at the conference for nearly a decade, said in his annual construction forecast that he projects overall non-residential growth of between two to six percent, Carolinas Associated General Contractors (CAGC) reported.
Nationally, Simonson forecasts a 5 to 10 percent increase for construction involving power; 2 to 5 percent increase for highway and street construction; 3 to 7 percent increase for educationally related construction work; 8 to 13 percent for office; and that manufacturing construction work looked flat.
Although construction employment is growing in NC at 3 percent, (moderate compared to other states), labor shortages will continue to plague the industry.
“We will need an arsenal of ways to deal with the workforce shortage”, Simonson said.