For the first time in months, the U.S. has seen a decline in jobs across the board, prompting analysts to blame the late 2020 resurgence of Covid-19 infection rates. The new unemployment rate, according to the latest Department of Labor statistics, is now at 6.7%, with a just over 140,000 job lost in the last four months of 2020. While the rate remains improved over the devastating 15% unemployment rate recorded last spring in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, the numbers nevertheless represent a levelling off of what had been a steadily declining jobless rate tracked in the late summer and early fall. But even with that levelling off, more than 12.3 million jobs have been recovered since the initial employment drop off in March and April. The construction industry saw an increase of an excess of 51,000 new jobs in December, part of an overall gain of 857,000 job construction jobs since early summer. Nonresidential construction recorded an increase of 29,000 new jobs, with specialty trade contractors up by 18,300 new jobs, and heavy and civil engineering adding 15,000 jobs. In a statement, Anirban Basu, chief economist with the Washington-based Associated Builders and Contractors, noted that for much of the pandemic period “nonresidential construction has represented a relative bulwark of stability, buoyed by its frequent status as an essential industry and a large backlog coming into the crisis.” Basu added that the increase in nonresidential specialty trade work could be seen as an “indication that many building owners are using the absence of office workers and visitors to modernize structures, keeping many construction firms, including smaller contractors, busier than they otherwise would be.” By Garry Boulard
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Funding has now been secured for the construction of the new National Guard Readiness Center in Tucson. The facility will measure just under 87,000 square feet and will go up on land owned by the State of Arizona in the 7900 block of S. Rita Road. As designed, the building will house administrative offices and training services for the Arizona Air National Guard, and will also include classrooms, a kitchen and dining area, lockers, showers, and restrooms. Some $18.1 million in funding for the project is coming out of the recently-approved National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, with the State of Arizona kicking in another $6 million. Work could begin on the readiness center before spring, with a general completion date set for early 2023. Established in 1946, the Arizona Air National Guard serves as the aerial militia for the state and is a part of the Arizona National Guard. By Garry Boulard Federal funding has been secured for two new projects at the Holloman Air Force Base, home to the 49th Wing which trains F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots. The funding is coming through the new National Defense Authorization Act, providing $740.5 billion in funding for fiscal year 2021 for military base operations, maintenance, and research and development projects, among other things. For Holloman, the defense bill means money for the construction of an $85 million facility designed to host the Formal Training Unit at the Holloman Air Force Base, six miles to the southwest of Alamogordo. That Formal Training Unit is specifically for the base’s MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle operators. Holloman is also receiving funding for a study looking at ways to upgrade its famous 10-mile long Holloman High Speed Test Track. That precision-aligned testing track, originally completed in 1949, is the longest test track in the country and used by scientists to conduct rocket-propelled sled tests. But it hasn’t seen an update in nearly two decades. By Garry Boulard As part of a larger $900 billion coronavirus relief bill approved in December by Congress, the Payroll Protection Program is now offering $284 billion in loans for the country’s small businesses. The new version of the PPP, to be once again administered by both the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department, comes in the wake of charges that some businesses receiving funding from the original loan pool were not legally qualified to do so. This latest iteration of the PPP will have a smaller pool to draw upon than the original $525 billion approved by Congress last spring. The new version will also be more focused on small businesses that can demonstrate a need for help, with only community-based lenders initially allowed to process loan applications, in an effort to make the program more accessible to minority depository institutions. The latest rollout of the program comes in a time when many of the nation’s small businesses have been challenged not just by the original Covid-19 onset and subsequent economic shutdown, but also the resurgence of the pandemic this fall. According to a survey conducted last month by the Nashville-based National Federation of Businesses, some 45% of roughly 600 respondents indicated that they will be applying for new PPP loans. By the parameters of the new PPP outreach, loans can be used for job retention and certain other business expenses. Businesses must have no more than 300 employees, and an ability to prove that they endured at least a 25% reduction in gross receipts between comparable quarters in 2019 and 2020. In a statement, Jovita Carranza, administrator of the SBA, said the PPP “served as an economic lifeline to millions of small businesses and their employees when they needed it the most.” The next PPP version, continued Carranza, “builds on the success of the program and adapts to the changing needs of small business owners by providing target relief and a simpler forgiveness process to ensure their path to recovery.” To date, the PPP has provided loans to more than 5 million small businesses. Complaints about the original program have centered on charges that some businesses were significantly larger than the targeted recipients, while other companies in a program designed to meet payroll expenses had no employees at all. The Treasury Department has since committed itself to investigating loans that were fraudulently received. By Garry Boulard Planning is underway for the construction of a 48-acre entertainment destination in Glendale, Arizona. The Crystal Lagoons company, with offices in Miami, wants to build the project not far from the State Farm Stadium, which is located on the west side of the city at 1 Cardinals Drive. Centerpiece of the facility: an 11-acre beach lagoon. That lagoon will feature a bar built on a vertical structure allowing it to rise some 135 feet in the air. To be called the Crystal Lagoons Island Resort, the project will also include a hotel, 4D theater, amusement park rides, and retail space. Work is expected to begin later this year on a project that should be completed by the fall of 2022. With locations in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East, Crystal Lagoons specializes in the development of crystalline lagoons of any size, all designed to create beach-like environments even in the middle of a desert. With projects in various stages of development in California and Florida, among other places, the Crystal Lagoons company, without revealing a timetable, has announced plans to eventually build more than 1,000 such locations in the U.S. By Garry Boulard The non-profit startup group known as Innosphere, which is headquartered in Fort Collins, is making plans to add to its presence in the fourth largest city in Colorado with a new two-story structure on its campus. The company has submitted plans to the City of Fort Collins for a 7,800 square-foot structure that will go up on currently vacant land to the west of its three-story, 11,000 square foot combined offices and labs. The company, which was launched in 1989 and has both a satellite office in Denver, while also overseeing facilities on the campus of Colorado State University, has been instrumental in the startup successes of everything from bioscience to digital health and software solutions businesses. Located at 320 East Vine Drive on the north side of Fort Collins, Innosphere is a prominent part of what is described as a “venture ecosystem” in Colorado valued at more than $400 billion in 2019. An exact construction schedule for the new Innosphere building has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard The growing urban swath connecting Phoenix, Mesa, and Scottsdale, Arizona, has proven to be a place of good news in construction hiring last year, according to a new report just issued by the Associated General Contractors of America. For the period of November 2019 to last November, the southern Arizona region picked up around 4,700 new construction jobs, leading the nation, and coming in ahead of the equally booming urban/suburban/exurban region in and around Baltimore, with 4,500 new jobs. Of the remaining half a dozen top construction job growth regions, four were located in the West, and included the thriving Dallas-Plano-Irving region with 3,700 new jobs in 2020. Such numbers offered rare construction gains for the nation’s contractors, according to the AGC report, which also noted that only 34% of reporting metro areas across the country added new construction jobs between November 2019 and November 2020. “Cancelled and postponed projects appear to be more common than new starts for far too many contractors,” Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist said in a statement. Simonson added that the results of the group’s latest hiring and business outlook survey revealed that “three times more contractors have experienced postponements and cancellations than new or expanded projects.” Overall, says the AGC report, construction employment was on the decline in 207 out of 358 reporting metro areas. At the same time, only 122 metro areas reported an increase in construction work. These dire numbers appear likely to worsen in early 2021, said AGC chief executive officer Stephen Sandherr in forecasting a continuing increase in cancelled projects in the immediate months to come. “Construction employment is likely to fall further in many parts of the country as the coronavirus continues to weigh on demand for nonresidential projects,” Sandherr remarked, also in a statement. “Unless market conditions change rapidly, this year is likely to prove very challenging for many construction employers,” added Sandherr. By Garry Boulard A long-planned and much-discussed road extension project in Aztec is expected to bring with it the benefits of increased economic development for this city of nearly 7,000 people in northwestern New Mexico. Work could begin sometime early this summer on the extension of North Main Avenue, which currently ends just to the north of its intersection with West Aztec Boulevard. The extension project, which two years ago received some $2.5 million in funding approved by the New Mexico State Legislature, will see the construction of a walking path connecting to a larger trail system that connects to the Aztec Ruins National Monument just over a mile to the north. As planned, the project will also see the construction of a public plaza. North Main Avenue was designated nearly 40 years ago by the State of New Mexico as a Historic District. The street is lined with a series of attractive 19th and early 20th century two-story brick buildings which have, through the years, proven to be a tourist attraction. The trail extension heading northward will make more accessible the Aztec Ruins, which, consisting of Pueblo Indian structures built more than a thousand years ago, is also a magnet for tourists. The North Main Avenue extension project is currently the subject of a flood plan study, which is expected to be completed soon. By Garry Boulard Engineering work is expected to begin later this year on a long-planned roundabout that will be built at a busy intersection roughly 10 miles to the west of downtown Albuquerque. The project will be built adjacent to the growing and upscale Mirehaven residential community. The project will be built at the corner where the Mirehaven Parkway meets Tierra Pintada Boulevard, and will entail the construction of new gutters and curbs, as well as Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks and ramps. The City of Albuquerque has issued a Request for Proposals for engineering consultants for what is expected to be a $3 million project. As planned, the project will additionally include paving work, along with drainage design, street lighting, and a median and roundabout design. Roundabouts are increasingly being built across the country as a means of moving traffic at intersections in mostly urban or heavily-populated suburban areas without the use of a traffic signal. New roundabouts in Albuquerque include a $2 million project that completed a year ago at the intersection of Rio Grande and Candelaria Road. According to the Federal Highway Administration, such configurations increase traffic capacity intersections by up to 50 percent. The RFP has a submission deadline of February 3. By Garry Boulard The opioid epidemic that in recent years has spread across the country, impacting workers in a variety of jobs, has also become a particularly troublesome challenge for the construction industry. According to reports, incidences of opioid addiction among construction workers have been on the increase now for more than 5 years, but more particularly since the onset of the Covid-19 virus. Noting the large number of injuries that can take place at the work site, leading to back pain and strained shoulders, “workers can get hooked on strong prescription drugs such as fentanyl, oxycodone, and morphine, and street drugs like heroin,” notes the Wall Street Journal. The publication adds that although hard numbers are elusive, construction workers, according to a Barclays Research report in 2019, are six times as likely as workers in other industries to become addicted to opioids. Opioids are regarded as safe when prescribed by a physician and taken for a short period of time, notes the National Institute on Drug Abuse. But because they not only relieve pain, but can also create a state of euphoria for users, opioids can often lead to ongoing addictions as well as overdoses and death. Construction workers are particularly vulnerable to opioid addiction, says the Center for Construction Research and Training, because when injured they are often unable to continue to work. Even more, workers’ compensation for an injury is often not enough to make up for lost pay. A continued use of opioids, the thinking goes, solves both problems. Other reports indicate that aging workers have oftentimes turned to opioids to relieve the pain from injuries, realizing that their bodies don’t recover from such injuries as quickly as when they were in their 20s or 30s. The National Safety Council is now advancing an initiative called the National Plan to Address Opioid Misuse, which is calling on employers to embrace systemic approaches to curtail opioid use in the workplace. In urging President-elect Joe Biden to take on the plan as a national policy priority, the NSC is also recommending improved worksite training and education pertaining to the dangers of opioids. The plan is additionally calling for support efforts to help workers undergoing addiction treatment to gradually return to work, while also expanding insurance coverage to include non-opioid treatment options. During the recent presidential campaign, Biden proposed a $125 billion program deigned to both prevent opioid abuse and enhance treatment and recovery services. By Garry Boulard |
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