Article source: ConstructConnect

As a follow-up to an article on U.S. construction material costs, the table and charts in this piece look at what has been happening in Canada. Generally speaking, the story in both countries is the same. While some inputs into construction are continuing to show price increases that are way up year over year, there are also instances of big declines. Furthermore, the trend over the latest three months decidedly features price retreats rather than advances.

In the U.S., the most comprehensive compilation of material costs, expressed in index form, are to be found in the Producer Price Index (PPI) data series compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Canadian equivalent is the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) data set produced by Statistics Canada.

Table 1 sets out the results for 27 building material or other non-man-hour inputs (e.g., equipment) into construction. The red and yellow arrows highlight the biggest price shifts. For year-over-year price movements, the red arrows point to gains of +20% or more; the yellow arrows, to declines of -20% or more. There are a few more big gains that retreats (4 red to 2 yellow arrows).
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Article source: ConstructConnect

The U.S. total number of jobs count rose by more than half a million in January, according to the latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The climb in employment of +517,000 positions was double the increase in the preceding month of December.

There were only two months last year when the month-to-month increase in jobs was higher, in February (+904,000) and July (+568,000).

The seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate in the first month of 2023 dipped to 3.4% from 3.5% the month prior.

The tighter interest rate regime being imposed by the Federal Reserve is having an impact on portions of the economy, such as single-family housing starts, but it is clearly not doing much to slow the juggernaut that is U.S. jobs creation.

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