Construction Section
The challenges facing the construction industry have never been greater. CPAs who serve clients or work in businesses in this important and volatile sector face many uncertainties. Will housing and construction continue to dive? When will the construction industry begin its own economic recovery? OSCPA Construction Section members get the latest relevant information on trends and issues impacting their industry and stay in the loop on what is happening with accounting and taxation standards and regulations that will affect construction businesses and clients. Build your knowledge and expertise by joining the Construction Section today.
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Sep 16, 2011
The nation’s newest jobs report, released Sept. 2, showed that U.S. employers added zero jobs in August and that the unemployment rate remained lodged at 9.1% and sparked fears among investors of a double-dip recession. The report marked the first time since 1945 that the Labor Department recorded a month in which the jobs needle failed to move up or down.
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Sep 01, 2011
Housing starts rose more than expected in June to touch a six-month high and permits for future construction unexpectedly increased, a government report showed on Tuesday, likely reflecting growing demand for rental apartments.
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Sep 01, 2011
As an Aug. 2 deadline looms on raising the federal debt limit and with no deal yet in sight, construction industry officials await Washington's next move as lawmakers negotiate a plan to steer the U.S. clear of a default on its debt obligations.
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Sep 01, 2011
Contracts for commercial construction increased 17% in June, but activity remains down 13% for the first six months of the year, according to the latest report from McGraw-Hill Construction. Residential construction, meanwhile, slid by 35% for the month compared with 2010’s pace and remains off 33% so far this year.
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Sep 01, 2011
Although the construction industry breathed a sigh of relief with the debt limit deal done, construction's worries are far from over. The industry now must brace itself for a share of the measure’s $2.1 trillion or more in deficit-reduction steps over 10 years.
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Sep 01, 2011
Construction spending edged up 0.2% in June as increases in private nonresidential construction outweighed continuing declines in private residential and public construction spending, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reported in an analysis of new Census Bureau data. The construction trade association’s chief economist, Ken Simonson, predicted further imbalances in spending, with further cuts in public spending likely to offset most or all of the gains in private investment.
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Sep 01, 2011
Construction employment inched up by 8,000 jobs to a 15-month high in July but remained far below the peak set in early 2006, according to an analysis of new federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said a grim outlook for public sector construction activity will act as a drag on expanding private sector construction. They urged lawmakers to pass adequate long-term funding for public projects, without unnecessary strings attached.
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Sep 01, 2011
The National Association of Home Builders is asking regulators to go back to the drawing board to come up with a plan for mortgage lending that would not hinder the housing recovery that is slowly beginning to materialize.
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Sep 01, 2011
Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes held unchanged at a low level of 15 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for August.
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