The construction industry has largely recovered from the recession, at least in terms of billions of dollars in construction put in place. Up until the last two years, it seemed like a very slow recovery, but then the return to growth blossomed. The acceleration of growth in the past couple of years wasn’t a complete surprise. However, fresh memories of the recession kept some companies from hiring until everyone else started hiring to the point where labor shortages in the industry became a big issue. Pent-up demand was set free in almost every construction sector.

The economy is still adding jobs, and people are buying homes and spending money on consumer and durable goods, but not as much as before the recession, or enough to boost the Consumer Price Index. So, what do we see now for future growth? Continued slow growth in most areas, but, as noted above, those billions add up.

FMI’s Construction Outlook Q3 2016 Report (PDF)