April 2012

With the prices of used heavy equipment at a three high and expected to keep going up the Marietta city council called a special session to appropreate funds to make their equipment purchases now. Richie Brothers auction in Orlando,FL set a record for the number of pieces sold and for the amount of money they sold for.According to the Bureau of Labor Statisrics construction employment is higher than its been since 2007, even with last month seeing a small decline the number of construction jobs the Detroit Free Press has reported that overall construction employment is up 5.8 percent since the first of the year.

Caterpillar Inc. reported that it is going to need 1,400 jobs in constructing their new manufacturing plant in Athens,GA Also Caterpillar announced that they were going to take sole ownership of the Mitsubishi equipment department for a cool 450,000,000.

A private research group named The Conference Board stated that our consumer confidence index rose from 61.5 percent to 70.8 percent between January 2012 and April 2012. One of their senior technical strategist says that after the first quarter of 2011 every one thought we were heading towards a double dip recession and an unemployment rate of double digits,over the last four quarters we have seen the DOW,S and P 500 and NASDAQ all go up by at least 15 percent.

March 01,2012

Ritchie Brothers held the worlds largest auction of heavy equipment in Orlando ,Florida in February,the company said that it set a few records with the sales.8,670 registered bidders from 88 different countries and all 50 states.Forty seven million dollars came in on their on-line auction and a total of 203,000,000 . With no minimum prices set the high bid got the piece,crane prices were extremely high which everyone feels is a good sign regarding the worlds economy.

With the prices of heavy equipment already higher than its been in the last four years the city council in Marietta Ga.called a special session to appropriate funds and approve the purchases now. Athens GA is where Caterpillar is going to build a new manufacturing plant,this is expected to put 1,400 people to work,a majority of them in heavy construction. Caterpillar is expecting the overall construction is goig to get back to where it was ,if it does it will be a big boon for the heavy equipment schools,all of their equipment needs to be operated by someone with the proper heavy equipment training.Also Caterpillar announced it plans on taking full ownership of their joint venture in Japan with Mitsubishi for a cool 450,000,000.

New York, New York a crane cable snapped dropping a load of steel 40 stories,a truck was totaled but no one was hurt not even the guy who was sitting in the truck that was hit.

oil pipe line

"Keystone XL" remember that name,you’re going to be hearing it over and over again.That is the name given to the project of building an oil pipe line from Alberta, Canada to the Texas side of the gulf coast.1700 miles,similar to the pipe line built in Alaska back in the 70,s When finished, it will have the capacity of pumping 830,000 barrels per day. All from our neighbors to the north. Transcanada is the name of the consortium of business’ that have merged their resources just to build the pipe line.Transcanadas’ spokesperson is on record of saying the materials have been ordered and their on hold waiting for the approvals. Currently their is six different starting points once they begin. Since their is a minimum of 12 government agencies that need to sign off,approvals aren’t expected for at least two more years.Keystone XL has a minimum of 40,000 heavy equipment jobs waiting .They are currently working twenty four hours a day ,every day,the current estimates are they need between 75,000 and 100,000 to reach capacity.the biggest demand is for heavy equipment operators,welders,pipe fitters and engineers.

Job Gains

Amid a sharp drop in the unemployment the stock markets have seen their biggest early year gains since 1987. Friday the Dow Jones closed higher than its been since May 2008,NASDAQ closed its highest in over 10 tears,the Standard and Poor,s 500 index is at the highest its been since the unemployment rate passed 6 percent. This is the 5th month in a row where the unemployment rate has gone down,the official rate went from 8.5 % to 8.3% I know that doesn,t seem like a lot but every 1 tenth of percentage point represents over 160,000 people.According to the government their were 240,000 new jobs created in January 2012. The housing market still is putting a drag on the economy,nobody regardless of their politics has a solution to this problem. Some parts of the country are better off than others,nobody can argue that North Dakota leads the country with the highest employment rates,they have more jobs than people,the oil fields in the western third of the state is still in need of qualified employees.

Heavy Equipment

Even though our housing market has not started to turn around yet ,at least the decline has leveled off.In 19 of the 20 largest housing markets the median price of the average house saw a small uptick in Dec.2011 Some people in the real estate business feel that the worst is over,it may not be the beginning of the end but maybe it is the end of the beginning The Richie Brothers auctioneers had two heavy equipment auctions in the last 90 days ,,,the sellers were delighted,for the first time in over five years 80 percent of the heavy equipment sold for more than the asking price. Each auction sold more than a 1000 pieces.That is a good indication that the general contractors are getting ready ,as soon as the winter months are over their springtime should be busier than last spring..The unemployment rate fluctuates from state to state,but their is one state whose biggest problem is that thay cannot get enough qualified workers..and that is North Dakota. The oil fields that were found in the western third of the state has created a huge demand for all different types of workers.CDL drivers,pipe fitters,engineers riggers,crane operators,heavy equipment operators general labors,and then some.And rightly so the high demand with a limited supply has created a big uptick on the pay scale,it has been reported that the pay is prevailing wage plus anywhere from 10 to 33 percent increases.If you are interested in working in North Dakota here is their web site. www.ndoiljobs.com,,,,,or www.midwestoiljobs.com orwww.rigzone.com the first web site belongs to the state of North Dakota and their is a large amount of information ,,

12 January, 2012 17:01

"Keystone XL" remember that name,you’re going to be hearing it over and over again.That is the name given to the project of building an oil pipe line from Alberta, Canada to the Texas side of the gulf coast.1700 miles,similar to the pipe line built in Alaska back in the 70,s When finished, it will have the capacity of pumping 830,000 barrels per day. All from our neighbors to the north. Transcanada is the name of the consortium of business’ that have merged their resources just to build the pipe line.Transcanadas’ spokesperson is on record of saying the materials have been ordered and their on hold waiting for the approvals. Currently their is six different starting points once they begin. Since their is a minimum of 12 government agencies that need to sign off,approvals aren’t expected for at least two more years.Keystone XL has a minimum of 40,000 heavy equipment jobs waiting .They are currently working twenty four hours a day ,every day,the current estimates are they need between 75,000 and 100,000 to reach capacity.the biggest demand is for heavy equipment operators,welders,pipe fitters and engineers. Canadians get first dibs on the jobs but that leaves 65,000 for others to fill.If you are interested in working in Alberta go to their web site www.oiljobfinder.com their is different ways of posting yourrllesume’. But remember to be patient.

General Contractors ; see light at the end of the tunnel,That light at the end of the tunnel might not be as bright as they would like it, but after staring into the abyss of darkness for the last two years ,any light is better than no light. The fourth quarter of 2011 saw a one percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2010 Tete N. DuBois Consulting says that the increases that came in 2011 are still lagging compared to three years ago ,but that makes three quarters in a row with a slight increase.North Dakota has the lowest unemployment of all the states,and they are still in need of qualified workers.

Update

Fourth Quarter Housing Slight Improvement

The fourth quarter jobs report was excellent news for the economy and even better for housing: unemployment among 22-32 year-olds fell to 9.0%, and quarterly job growth in “clobbered cities” was strong at 1.9% (annualized rate).

Economic recovery is essential for housing demand. But these three indicators in the quarterly jobs report tell us whether the recovery in housing demand is underway.

Construction jobs are at the heart that connects jobs and housing. Housing demand leads to more jobs in construction and related industries.

Between the ages of 22 and 32 is prime time when many people form households. During and after the recession, household formation dropped for this age group, and more of them than ever are living with parents or other adults rather than renting or owning their own place. These folks will wait to form their own households and consider homeownership only when their job prospects improve. A key measure for housing demand and homeownership is the unemployment rate for this group and the share of this age group that is employed.

In November, the unemployment rate for 22-32 year-olds dropped sharply to 9.0% from 9.6% in October and is at its lowest level since early 2009 (except for a one-month dip this March). The unemployment rate for all adults also dropped, from 9.0% to 8.6%. In November, 73.9% of 22-32 year-olds were employed (the rest are unemployed or not in the labor force because they’re in school, discouraged from looking, or not looking for other reasons), up from lower September and October levels, so the unemployment drop is not primarily due to young adults leaving the labor force.

But the job market remains difficult for this age group: before the recession, unemployment for 22-32 year-olds followed the overall rate pretty much exactly, but has remained above the all-adults rate even as the unemployment rate has drifted down.

The housing bust had unequal effects nationally, with many markets in south Florida, Arizona, and California facing some of the largest price declines and highest vacancy rates. Job growth anywhere will boost housing demand, but compared to other places, these clobbered cities are in more desperate need of motivated homebuyers to help their local housing markets recover. We define “clobbered cities” as metro areas where home prices dropped at least 35% during the bust (according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index) and where vacancy rates are still over 8% (excluding seasonal or vacation homes, according to the 2010 Census). Metro-level BLS data are released several weeks after the national data, so this indicator is for the previous month.

Keystone LX

"Keystone XL" remember that name,you’re going to be hearing it over and over again.That is the name given to the project of building an oil pipe line from Alberta, Canada to the Texas side of the gulf coast.1700 miles,similar to the pipe line built in Alaska back in the 70,s When finished, it will have the capacity of pumping 830,000 barrels per day. All from our neighbors to the north. Transcanada is the name of the consortium of business’ that have merged their resources just to build the pipe line.Transcanadas’ spokesperson is on record of saying the materials have been ordered and their on hold waiting for the approvals. Currently their is six different starting points once they begin. Since their is a minimum of 12 government agencies that need to sign off,approvals aren’t expected for at least two more years.Keystone XL has a minimum of 40,000 heavy equipment jobs waiting .They are currently working twenty four hours a day ,every day,the current estimates are they need between 75,000 and 100,000 to reach capacity.the biggest demand is for heavy equipment operators,welders,pipe fitters and engineers. Canadians get first dibs on the jobs but that leaves 65,000 for others to fill.If you are interested in working in Alberta go to their web site www.oiljobfinder.com their is different ways of posting your resume’. But remember to be patient.

Rochester, MN area leads state in job growth

The latest employment data from the state Labor Department shows that New York as a whole is in a holding pattern in terms of joblessness, with the unemployment rate at 7.9 percent in October. Rochester, however, continues to do better.

The five-county metropolitan statistical area added 7,700 jobs between October 2010 and October 2011, On a percentage basis, the 1.5 percent growth outpaced all other major metro areas in New York.

Construction employment grew by 9.4 percent during the past year, tops among sectors in Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Livingston and Orleans counties. There also was notable growth in business services, leisure and hospitality, retail and manufacturing

Will Obama’s Plan Stimulate Construction?

Could the construction industry be on the verge of another stimulus bill? If passed, the proposed job creation plan could generate additional employment opportunities and more investment in infrastructure—which would mean more work for the construction industry.