The U.S. Census Bureau announced the “put in place” spending during December 2023 was estimated at a “seasonally adjusted” annual rate of $2,096.0 billion, 0.9 percent above the upward revised November estimate of $2,078.3 billion. The December figure is a whopping 13.9 percent above the December 2022 estimate of $1,840.9 billion; some of which can be accounted for by the impact of inflation on the dollar amounts recorded in 2023.

By comparison, the overall value of construction in 2023 was $1,978.7 billion (also impacted by inflation), or a year-over-year 7.0 percent above the $1,848.7 billion spent in 2022.  READ MORE..

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the “put in place” construction spending during November 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,050.1 billion, 0.4 percent above the upward revised October estimate of $2,042.5 billion. The November figure is a noticeable strong 11.3 percent above the November 2022 estimate of $1,842.2 billion. During the first eleven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,817.1 billion, a steady 6.2 percent above the $1,711.1 billion for the same period in 2022.   READ MORE

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the “put in place” construction spending during October 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,027.1 billion, 0.6 tenths of a percent above the upward revised September estimate of $2,014.7 billion. The October figure is 10.7 percent above the October 2022 estimate of $1,830.5 billion. During the first ten months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,646.0 billion, a healthy 5.6 percent above the $1,559.1 billion for the same period in 2022. 

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Construction spending during September 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,996.5 billion, 0.4 percent above the upward revised August estimate of $1,988.3 billion. The September figure is a healthy 8.7 percent above the September 2022 estimate of $1,836.9 billion. Of note, nonresidential spending saw a large increase over previous month’s levels. During the first nine months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,463.5 billion, 4.6 percent above the $1,398.9 billion for the same period in 2022.

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Construction spending during August 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,983.5 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised July estimate of $1,973.7 billion. The August figure is 7.4 percent above the August 2022 estimate of $1,847.3 billion. During the first eight months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,284.7 billion, 4.2 percent above the $1,233.4 billion for the same period in 2022.

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Construction spending during July 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,972.6 billion, 0.7 percent above the upwardly revised June estimate of $1,958.9 billion. The July figure is a healthy 5.5 percent above the July 2022 estimate of $1,869.3 billion. During the first seven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,101.5 billion, 3.7 percent above the $1,062.1 billion for the same period in 2022.

Private Construction
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,548.9 billion, 1.0 percent above the revised June estimate of $1,533.7 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $879.0 billion in July, 1.4 percent above the revised June estimate of $866.8 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $670.0 billion in July, 0.5 percent above the revised June estimate of $666.9 billion.   READ MORE....

The Department of Labor (DOL) has published its long-anticipated rewrite of the pay threshold for salary employees to be exempted from overtime requirements.  Notwithstanding numerous concerns and even legal precedents from court cases the last time a massive jump in the salary level was proposed, the Biden Administration rule would increase the salary threshold to $1,059 per week, or $55,000 a year. [That’s a 55% increase in one step over the current levels of $684 a week, or $35,600 a year, for workers to qualify for overtime pay if they work over 40+ hours a week]. The rule is expected to affect an estimated 3.6 million workers.  However, in a move that will likely be the center-piece of legal challenges, the proposed rule seeks automatic raises to the threshold every three years going forward.  CIRT along with a coalition of design/construction organizations has raised serious concerns regarding the large increase proposed by this rulemaking, not the least of which is the impact it will have on further raising costs during an inflationary time.  Moreover, for younger employees this one size fits all increased threshold salary (which may be higher than entry level salaries for some parts of the country) can undermine their professional development.

For more details, see DOL release Notice of Proposed Rulemaking altering the overtime altering the overtime pay regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Comments are due in 60-days or October 30, 2023.

Construction spending during June 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,938.4 billion, 0.5 percent above the upward revised May estimate of $1,929.6 billion. The June figure is 3.5 percent above the June 2022 estimate of $1,873.2 billion. During the first six months of this year, construction spending amounted to $917.4 billion, a modest 3.0 percent above the $890.4 billion for the same period in 2022. 

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Construction spending in May was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,925.6 billion, a notable 0.9 percent above the slightly revised April estimate of $1,909.0 billion. The May figure is 2.4 percent above the May 2022 estimate of $1,880.9 billion. During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $740.8 billion, 2.9 percent above the $719.6 billion for the same period in 2022.   READ MORE HERE....

The Reason Foundation’s 2023 Annual Privatization Report: Transportation Finance indicates that for the second year in a row, global infrastructure investment funds rose to a record amount: $149 billion in 2022. Those funds invested just under $150 billion, 48% into brand new (greenfield) facilities, 23% into infrastructure mergers & acquisitions, 15% into refinancing, 9% into taking publicly traded entities private, and 4% on ‘other.’ Overall, these funds had $820 billion in assets under management at year-end and another $380 billion worth of dry powder—funds raised but not yet invested in any kind of project.

Also, for the second year in a row, transportation was the largest infrastructure sector these funds invested in, at 72% of the total. Of this total expenditure in 2022, the largest share of transportation megaproject public-private partnerships (P3s) that were financed were U.S. projects, specifically John F. Kennedy International Airport New Terminal One ($8.4 billion), JFK Terminal 6 ($4.7 billion), Maryland Purple Line refinancing ($2.7 billion), and Pennsylvania Major Bridges Program ($2.3 billion), among other noteworthy projects.

A key source of the growing private equity investment funding was explained by the Annual Report as the expanding role of public employee pension systems in infrastructure investments. During 2022, with the stock market down, the median state pension system return on investment was minus 5.2%, compared with their targeted long-term return on investment of 7%. The majority of U.S. state and local public employee pension systems have significant unfunded liabilities. In sharp contrast, large Australian and Canadian public pension funds are fully funded. One of the keys to that status is several decades of careful investment in revenue-generating infrastructure, as summarized in the report. The good news on this front is the slow but steady increase in U.S. pension systems allocating sums to infrastructure investment funds which enables them to invest in a portfolio of projects anywhere in the world.

[NOTE: Reason Foundation publishes this report each year to help legislators, commentators, and journalists better understand and follow developments and trends in long-term design-build-finance-operate-maintain public-private partnership projects. There are profound differences between DBFOM projects and traditional design-bid-build and design-build projects. DBFOMs are financed mainly via private-sector equity investment and non-recourse revenue bonds, based on project-derived revenues. Where does that equity come from? From infrastructure investment funds, such as those listed and discussed in the annual report].