SMU Community Chat Ken Simonson of The Associated General Contractors of America

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

We’ll also discuss the impact of higher interest rates and infrastructure spending. Will higher rates slow construction activity? And will infrastructure spending result in better demand for your products in 2H 2023 and heading into 2024 – or is it more of a long-term trend?

Another important topic: the ongoing labor shortage. We’ve all seen the headlines about tech layoffs. Could some of those coders be trained to use tools? Because skilled workers remain in short supply – and the situation doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon.

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. And Simonson has been chief economist at AGC since 2001 – which means he’s seen his share of 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.

By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com