SMU Community Chat

Register for Oct. 4 Community Chat With AGC chief economist Ken Simonson

Written by Michael Cowden

September 20, 2023

Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 11 a.m. ET.

The live webinar is free. A recording will be available free to SMU members. You can register here.

We’ll talk about the outlook for construction, a key end market for steel. We’ll discuss how changing material costs, including for steel, might affect that outlook.

We’ll in addition dive into the impact of higher interest rates, the Inflation Reduction Act, and infrastructure spending. To what extent might higher rates slow construction activity? And to what extent might the IRA and infrastructure help to offset that?

Another important topic: labor. We’ve seen labor shortages and widespread strikes – not only at the UAW but across other industries as well. Does that mean skilled workers will remain hard to find for longer than anticipated?

And we’ll of course take your questions too.

Simonson is in a good position to answer them because AGC is the leading association for the construction industry, with more than 27,000 member firms across a range of markets. Also, Simonson has been chief economist at AGC since 2001 – so he’s seen more than a few construction market cycles.

As always, we’ll keep it to about 45 minutes. You can drop in, learn something – and then get on with your day.

PS – If you’d like to see past Community Chat webinars, you can find those here.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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