Up dat e s f ro m A B C N A T I O N A L
ABC JOINS NATIONAL INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS INEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY WASHINGTON, D.C., June 23- ABC today announced it is partnering with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a national initiative to address inequality of opportunity. As a partner on this important initiative, ABC will also host local and industry dialogues to further the discussion.
“Now more than ever, diversity, inclusion and equity must be the forefront of all business decisions,” said Brad Lewis, chair of ABC’s Diversity Committee and corporate director of supplier diversity for Hensel Phelps. “On behalf of ABC and its 21,000plus members, we look forward to partnering with the U.S. Chamber to address the inequity in our country, develop action items that can be implemented in our workplaces and communities and meet the needs of a 21st century workforce.”
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 11— ABC Vice President of Health, Safety, Environment and Workforce Development Greg Sizemore and National Association of Home Builders Chief Executive Officer Jerry Howard issued the following joint statement today on the D.C. Circuit Court’s decision to reject a lawsuit brought by the AFL-CIO to compel the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an “emergency temporary standard” for infectious diseases/COVID-19:
“We applaud the D.C. Circuit’s decision, which affirms that OSHA’s comprehensive response to the COVID-19 outbreak currently eliminates the need for an emergency temporary standard for infectious diseases and COVID-19 covering all employees. The government is learning new information about COVID-19 and how best to mitigate related hazards on an almost daily and sometimes even hourly basis, which is why a static, intransigent rule would not be an appropriate response. OSHA’s resources “The moral case for greater diversity, are better deployed by developing equity and inclusion in the workplace is timely and situational-specific guidance indisputable, and there’s overwhelming documents, which can be adjusted evidence that greater diversity benefits and adapted as the agency and public the American economy, businesses, health authorities better understand communities and employees,” said U.S. the pandemic. Chamber President Suzanne Clark. “We are proud to partner with ABC on “In the construction sector, even this initiative and help develop a robust without a COVID-19 outbreak, safety plan of action.” and health is always our No. 1 priority. As representatives of residential, This national initiative will build on nonresidential and industrial the work already undertaken by ABC’s construction contractors across the Diversity Committee—formed to better country, we remain committed to reach underrepresented communities collaborating with state and local within the construction sector—and health officials, as well as across provides leadership and direction to market sectors, to diligently identify chapters and member companies to and implement new health and safety promote diversity as an empowering protocols on our jobsites to protect competitive advantage through construction employees amid the education, awareness and business COVID-19 outbreak.” practices. CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYMENT ABC, NAHB APPLAUD D.C. SEES RECORD REBOUND IN MAY, CIRCUIT COURT DECISION TO SAYS ABC REJECT LAWSUIT TO COMPEL WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5—The OSHA TO ISSUE EMERGENCY construction industry added 464,000 TEMPORARY STANDARD FOR net new jobs in May, according to an INFECTIOUS DISEASES/COVID-19 Associated Builders and Contractors 23 www.abcpelican.org/newsletter
analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May represented the largest monthly increase in construction jobs since the government began tracking employment in 1939, a drastic improvement from April, which recorded the industry’s largest monthover-month job loss. While nonresidential construction employment lost more than 570,000 jobs on net in April, a total of 237,000 net new jobs were added in May with job gains in all three nonresidential subsegments. May 2020 nonresidential employment was 286,000 jobs lower compared to May 2019. The construction unemployment rate fell to 12.7% in May, up 9.5 percentage points from the same time last year, but down 3.9 percentage points from April 2020. Unemployment across all industries fell to 13.3% in May, down from 14.7% in April. “One way to look at this stunning jobs report is to suggest that economists missed the mark by approximately 10.5 million jobs,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecasted a decline exceeding 8 million jobs. Instead, the economy added a bit more than 2.5 million jobs. It’s also possible that economists missed the mark by two to four weeks, as the economy opened up faster than most economists expected and consumers have been far more willing to engage the economy than many thought possible given the ongoing personal and public health risks presented by COVID-19. “For contractors, this is purely good news,” said Basu. “With the economy beginning its recovery sooner and more dramatically than anticipated, fewer projects are likely to be postponed or canceled. Combined with rising contractor confidence, as indicated by ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, this will also help accelerate the recovery of state and local government finances.”
