AGC's Data DIGest: April 8 – April 12, 2013
Materials costs diverge as bid prices stay flat for building contractors, drop for highways
Editor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.
Click here to view the March PPI tables and metro employment figures by state and rank.
The producer price index (PPI) for finished goods rose 0.2%, not seasonally adjusted (and fell 0.6%, seasonally adjusted), in March and 1.1% over 12 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. The PPI for inputs to construction—a weighted average of the cost of all materials used in construction plus items consumed by contractors such as diesel fuel—was unchanged for the month and up 0.9% year-over-year. Indexes for most new nonresidential building construction and subcontractors’ work were similarly flat. The PPIs for new offices, industrial buildings and warehouses were flat in March and rose just 1.0%, 1.1% and 2.3%, respectively, over 12 months. [node:read-more:link]