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Construction employers added 22,000 jobs in July, pushing unemployment to 7.5 percent, a seven-year low for July. Residential Construction Since June: +13,000 jobs Non-Residential Construction Since June: +9,100 jobs Top 3 State Construction Job Increases (Year-over-Year %): Nevada (+13.4%), Delaware (+13.3%), Florida (+11.1%) Top 3 State Construction Job Decreases (Year- over-Year %): New Jersey (-6.5%), West Virginia (-5.8%), Mississippi (-5.6%) 7.5 % The NAHB Leading Markets Index, which measures current housing permits, prices and employment data for metropolitan areas against pre-recession 'normal' levels, increased by one point in August to a .89 score and added just seven markets year-over-year. Top Major Metro: Baton Rouge, La. (1.39) Top Small Metro: Odessa, Texas (2.22) .89 Three leading industry economists provided insights on the status of residential and non-residential building, construction labor and the housing market in a seminar sponsored by the Associated Builders and Contractors last month. Kermit Baker, Chief Economist, American Institute of Architects "The fundamentals in the non-residential building market are getting better … the architecture billings index has been generally positive for the last 18 months, which suggests we're in the early phase of a non-residential construction recovery. The second quarter average is showing strong gains and solid momentum moving into the latter part of the year." Economic News Anirban Basu, Chief Economist, Associated Builders and Contractors "We think that this year, in real terms, the gain in construction spending will be between fve and six percent, maybe a bit more than that. Though I must say, a lot of that has to happen in the last six months of the year, because the frst half was not that fabulous." "Construction is now adding jobs faster than the balance of the economy. Over the past year, the overall economy has added roughly 1.8 or 1.9 percent to total jobs; construction has added 3.2 percent. Residential building [employment] is up 8.3 percent year-over-year, and non-residential building is up 3.3 percent." David Crowe, Chief Economist, National Association of Homebuilders "The thing that is striking is that we have a high percentage of reports [showing] a low supply of lots, and yet we're nowhere near that kind of elevation in total production. That same comparison applies to the labor supply. As we've seen production return, the labor supply issue has become much more stressful – in fact, upwards of two-thirds of builders are reporting a shortage. In this case, the problem now is simply that those workers left the industry for other jobs, and we haven't been able to attract them back." Calendar of Events 2014 September September 14, 2014 IES 2014 IES Street and Area Lighting Conference Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee www.ies.org September 18, 2014 TNASLA Tennessee ASLA 2014 State Conference Chattanooga, Tennessee www.tnasla.org September 18, 2014 CLCA IE Golf Tournament The Links at Summerly, Lake Elsinore, California www.clca-inlandempire.org September 18, 2014 NVASLA Nevada: The First 150 Years Wetlands Park Nature Center, Las Vegas, Nevada www.eventbrite.com/e/nevada-naturalist- state-conference September 25, 2014 ONLA Annual Convention and Trade Show Cox Business Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma www.onla.org September 25, 2014 CMACN Fall Meeting Resort at Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley, California www.cmacn.org September 25, 2014 NYSTA 8th Annual New York Botanical Garden Field Day Horticulture Operations Center, Bronx, New York www.nystla.com September 25 - 27, 2014 Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association The Landscape Show Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida www.fngla.org September 2014 11