Following a 25 basis points increase in March, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee unanimously approved a further 50 basis points increase for the federal funds target rate, the largest increase for the rate in more than two decades. The Fed also provided details for its plan to reduce its balance sheet (quantitative tightening), which will further tighten financial conditions…. Read More ›
The construction labor market remains tight, as the industry sees a rising number of job openings year-over-year. The count of open construction jobs increased slightly to 396,000 unfilled positions in March. The highest measure in the history of the data series (going back to late 2000) was 416,000 in April 2019. The housing market remains underbuilt and requires additional labor,… Read More ›
The Census Bureau recently released its 2021 Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) annual population estimates. Between 2020 and 2021, 251 (65%) of the 384 MSAs within the 50 states and the District of Columbia experienced population increases, albeit small on percentage terms. The MSAs’ combined total population increased from 286,195,308 in 2020 to 286,472,775 in 2021, approximately a 0.1% increase. Dallas-Fort… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 1% in March after an increase of 0.7% in February. Spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $882 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 18.4% higher than a year ago. These monthly gains are attributed to the strong growth of spending on… Read More ›
As the construction labor market remains tight and skilled labor shortages persist, wages in construction continue to rise, often outpacing and exceeding typical earnings in other industries. According to the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), average hourly earnings (AHE) in construction vary greatly across 43 states that reported these data. Some of… Read More ›
The most recent data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that personal income increased 0.5% in March after a 0.7% gain in February. Gains in personal income are largely driven by increases in compensation of employees. However, it was 11.6% lower than a year ago when US government implemented stimulus packages to cope with COVID-19 crisis. Real… Read More ›
