Growing labor shortages continue to plague the construction industry, while trade schools and job training programs report their current enrollment won’t make up for a wave of retiring skilled workers.

Not even high interest rates, inflation and ongoing labor and material shortages are keeping contractors down in the Midwest.

As the industry faces ongoing challenges, they are adopting digital technologies like AI to automate and optimize their operations and cloud-based solutions to simplify fragmented IT systems.

Companies are increasingly investing in an industrialized construction strategy and adapting their business processes to improve project delivery performance.

The coming year presents a complex landscape for the construction industry. Cost, risk and growth will be impacted by geopolitical turmoil, inflation and increased regulatory complexity.

Despite a surprisingly strong economy, construction industry executives report that they enter 2024 with much of the same trepidation they faced at the start of 2023.

Despite industry-wide challenges from labor shortages and frustrating supply chain snags, most specialty contractors across the West Coast saw revenue gains in 2022.

Steep inflation has exacerbated what was already a volatile market for construction materials, complicating specialty contractors’ efforts to navigate the post-pandemic environment.

Construction starts are once again increasing after a slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2021. But labor shortages continue, and after a brief decline, materials prices are again climbing, caused partially by the war in Ukraine.

Looking to 2020, the anticipated theme of the global economy is uncertainty, as countries around the world wait for clarity over future trading arrangements. Construction activity will slow as long as these geopolitical discussions linger.