A study released this month by the Illinois Policy Institute found that repealing the state’s prevailing wage law would help boost the state’s economy by lowering the cost to taxpayers on publicly funded construction projects and spurring job growth in the construction industry. 

Under the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Electronic Injury Reporting and Anti-Retaliation final rule (also known as Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses) certain employers are required to electronically submit the information from their completed 2016 Form 300A by Dec. 15. Information on electronic reporting is available on the DOL's website.

The nation’s construction sector added 24,000 net new jobs in November, representing a 0.3 percent month-over-month increase, according to ABC’s analysis regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data. Nonresidential construction employment added 8,600 net new jobs in November, a figure that would have been substantially higher were it not for heavy and civil engineering, which lost 7,800 for the month.

The U.S. Senate passed sweeping tax reform legislation on Dec. 2, overcoming a number of setbacks over the course of a long week.  The effort to win over holdouts and cobble together the necessary votes led to a number of late-breaking changes to the bill, culminating in what was essentially a party line vote, with Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) as the only dissenting Republican. 

Nonresidential construction spending rose 2.1 percent in October, totaling $717.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to ABC’s analysis of data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The level of spending, however, remains virtually unchanged from a year ago.

On Nov. 29, President Trump delivered a strong defense of reducing the tax burden on businesses of all sizes in his “Bring Back Main Street” Speech in St. Charles, Mo. He urged Congress to push tax reform across the finish line as the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on their version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act this week.

On Nov. 28, The Senate Budget Committee voted to advance S.1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on a party line vote of 11-10. Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) voted to send the bill to the Senate floor after originally withholding their support.

The not seasonally adjusted national construction unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in October, down 1.2 percent from a year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. It was the lowest October rate on record, matching the rate in 2006, according to analysis by ABC. Further, the construction industry employed 180,000 more workers than in October 2016.

The private construction industry’s value added as a percentage of the nation’s real gross domestic product rose to 4 percent in 2016, the highest level since 2009, according to ABC. The report also shows annual growth in real construction spending, which rose 3.5 percent in 2016. Thirty-seven states benefited from the rise in construction activity in their state, while 13 states experienced a reduction in activity.

On Nov. 22, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it has extended the compliance date for the electronic reporting provisions of its Electronic Injury Reporting and Anti-Retaliation final rule (also known as Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses) to Dec. 15. This is a two-week extension from the Dec. 1 compliance date in the proposed rule. The final rule regarding the delay of the compliance date will be published in the Federal Register on Nov. 24.