The latest Construction Confidence Index shows construction industry leaders were more optimistic in October 2019 regarding the nonresidential construction sector’s future, according to www.abc.org.
Although contractors were less confident about staffing levels, they were more confident regarding sales and profit margins, and all three components were well above the diffusion index threshold of 50. Nearly 46% of respondents expect profit margins to increase during the next six months. Additionally, 63% of contractors expect sales to expand, and 57% of contractors expect staffing levels to expand.
In October 2019, the CCI increased from 62.4 to 63.8 for sales expectations; 58.5 to 58.8 for profit margin expectations; and decreased from 64.2 to 63.6 for staffing levels.
“The U.S. construction industry will enter 2020 with substantial momentum,” says ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Contractors continue to position themselves for a growing and more profitable marketplace with expectations of rising sales, wider profit margins and larger teams of workers. However, abundant risks remain, including in the form of increasingly volatile asset prices, a weakening global economy, massive levels of indebtedness in the U.S. and abroad, political uncertainty emerging from Washington and the impending insolvency of the nation’s Highway Trust Fund. But these risks have been in place for quite some time and, for now, the mood among contractors remains upbeat.”
