Investing.com - From coast to coast, the U.S. economy is experiencing a building boom.
Construction in major cities such as New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angles is at or near a record level, as developers add dozens of office towers to their skylines.
On a smaller scale, confidence among builders of single family homes recently hit an 18-year high. Construction of new homes is expected to grow 5% in 2018
Overall, construction spending hit a record annual rate of almost $1.3 trillion dollars in 2017, led by private projects, according to government data,
All that activity has meant a hiring binge. One tenth of the 2.1 million jobs created in 2017 was in construction. Still, employers say they can't find enough skilled workers.