Josh White, Construction Executive

The construction industry is a major contributor to the U.S. economy, employing more than 7 million people and creating nearly $1.3 trillion worth of structures annually. An impressive portion of these employees have a military background—in fact, roughly 15.5% of all U.S. veterans will enter the construction industry at some point in their careers, according to PlanGrid’s Construction Productivity blog.

Today, President Biden moved back the date by which federal contractor employees must be “fully vaccinated.”  The new deadline is January 4, 2022, which aligns the federal contractor rule with the OSHA ETS deadline.

Here’s the announcement from the White House:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released an emergency temporary standard (ETS) obligating employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly testing and masking for their unvaccinated employees. The ETS requires covered employers to ensure all unvaccinated employees working in-person to begin wearing masks by Dec. 5, 2021, and provide a negative COVID-19 test on a weekly basis beginning Jan. 4, 2022.

Jim Mackinnon, Akron Beacon Journal

Frantz Ward Blog

The Ironworker

Jeff Yoders, ENR Midwest

Union apprenticeship programs in the construction industry produce salary and social outcomes for workers equivalent to the jobs and social situations of those with four-year college degrees, a new union-backed study of 10 years of federal statistics concludes.

Katie Kuehner-Hebert, Constructor 

The term “essential worker” took on a whole new meaning in 2020 as many employees — who considered their contribution to the workforce valuable — lost their jobs, thanks to the tailspin caused by COVID-19.

Cameron Fields, cleveland.com

Sherwin-Williams selected five minority construction management firms to work on building its new global headquarters in downtown Cleveland and a research and development center in Brecksville.

Melissa Uribes, Construction Executive