ASPHALT ANSWERS
2023 Will prove to be a landmark year in the asphalt industry .
Where is this Paving Train Headed ?
BRIAN HALL
M uch has been made of this ride we have been on since the COVID pandemic . ConExpo marked 3 years since the world hit the pause button and it ’ s been a little quirky since . Post pandemic has given us 2 things ; high demand and short supply . Infrastructure dollars are pouring in making the rest of the asphalt world quite strong bringing high demand for our type of work . Supply is the issue . Not only the supply chain , which is where my corner of the industry suffers , but qualified manpower . Everybody from machine operators to truck drivers to office personnel , hiring and retaining is the challenge . Let ’ s take a step back from the “ asphalt ” part of this article and focus on the “ answers ”. The most prevailing topic discussed when I go to industry meetings , dealer meetings and contractor meetings is the dreaded “ R ” word . Are we headed for a recession ? Are we already in one ? Let ’ s take a quick look at the signs of a recession and make our own assessment . Slowdown in consumer spending . Nothing today could be farther from the truth . Home values are high for a reason . While customer spending slowed by . 2 % in December , consumers entered 2023 with a spring in their step . This slowdown in spending was seemed to be caused by higher interest rates . Prior to December , each month of the year saw an increase in the year before . A spike in unemployment . Jobless rates in January of 2023 was 3.5 %, the same rate as right before the pandemic and the lowest level since 1969 . Breaking news ? Nope . Hiring and retaining has never been harder and its not seeming to get better . At 5.7 million people out of work , it could be said that these are the “ unemployable ” citizens . There are many political reasons for this that I won ’ t go into here . The slowing of the manufacturing process . I work for a manufacturer that produces hundreds of thousands of finished goods and parts per year . Backlogs are at record pace and demand is as high as ever . Market leaders are finding that they need to find new ways to produce finished goods faster , more efficiently while not sacrificing costs . A drop in personal income due to job loss . As of December 2022 , personal income increased $ 49.5 Billion or . 2 %. The increase in personal income primarily reflected increases in compensation and business owner ’ s income . Businesses are profitable and are sharing the income and the employees are remaining loyal .
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[ 13 ] April 2023