On July 16, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø submitted regulatory comments on the U.S. Treasury Department's interim final rule governing how state, local, territorial and Tribal governments can spend $350 billion from a COVID-relief fund established under President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief law: the American Rescue Plan Act. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s regulatory comments urge the Department to, among other things: (1) confirm and expand eligibility for all forms of infrastructure and building construction investments and related revenue streams; and (2) drop any reporting requirements encouraging government-mandated project labor agreements, local hiring requirements and the expansion of prevailing wage laws beyond the status quo. And, in a victory for ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø and the construction industry, the Department provided new guidance clarifying that losses of revenues from gas taxes and vehicle licensing fees incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible to be replenished using these recovery funds. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø will continue to monitor the distribution of these recovery funds.
According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., contractors are projecting 2021 construction staff wages to increase an average of 3.23%, as reported by over 300 companies in the 38th edition of the Construction / Construction Management Staff Salary Survey. For pay increase comparison, according to the WorldatWork, across all industries exempt professionals saw 2020 actual increases of 2.9% and they are projecting 2021 increases of 2.9%. For construction WorldatWork reported a 3.4% increase in 2020 and are projecting 3.3% for 2021.
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s National Construction Industry Workforce Summit to Take Place on Oct. 13
Registration is now open for the 2021 Construction HR and Training Professionals Conference to be held October 14-15, 2021, in St. Louis, Missouri.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced an extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance that was initially granted last year. Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend this policy until Aug. 31, 2021.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued an interim final rule implementing the special financial assistance provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to assist financially troubled multiemployer pension plans. (Click here for more background on ARPA’s multiemployer pension provisions.)
Negotiators conducting collective bargaining between January and June of this year agreed to raise construction craft workers’ wage and fringe benefits by an average of 2.6 percent or $1.57 during the first contract year, according to the Construction Labor Research Council’s (CLRC) latest Settlements Report. This compares to 2.8 percent or $1.58 for the same period in 2020 and 2.8 percent or $1.62 for all of 2020.
Construction employment in June remained below the levels reached before the pre-pandemic peak in February 2020 in 39 states, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government employment data released today. Association officials noted that many construction firms are struggling to cope with supply chain challenges and rising materials prices, which is undermining demand for new projects and impacting firms’ ability to hire new workers.
On July 14, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø outlined its priorities for the bipartisan infrastructure package to the group of bipartisan senators who are drafting the legislation. In addition to significant investments in physical infrastructure, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø calls for investing in the construction workforce, streamlining the federal environmental review and permitting process, improving the construction supply chain, as well as ensuring provisions restricting the expansion of highway capacity are not included. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø and industry stakeholders continue to meet with the Senate offices working on this legislation to highlight construction industry priorities. The timing for when the legislation will be released and ultimately voted on continues to be unclear. However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said the Senate will push to vote on it before the chamber breaks for the August recess.
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø recently submitted extensive comments on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) draft 2022 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction General Permit and supporting materials, based on member input.