SMU Community Chat with Ken Simonson of AGC

Date/Time: October 4 2023, 11:00 am

Guests: Ken Simonson

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

We talked about the outlook for construction, a key end market for steel. And discussed 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.