The construction industry is extremely fragmented, with enormous enterprises competing in the same markets as one-person operations. Private residential construction, the author asserts, is the mainstay of the industry and is strongly linked with the overall health of the economy. Overall, this segment is relatively unstable and slow to respond to business cycle fluctuations. Important issues facing this segment are sources of funding and building complexity. Public construction is subject to local, State, and Federal regulations, making this segment more complex in many instances.
Wage regulation is one of the most important issues affecting public construction.
All of these segments are open to union involvement, which often impacts the wage structure and job conditions. Finkel explores unions in greater detail later in the book. Continuing with the industry overview, the author explores construction in respect to classical economic thought. The economic theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes are explored in respect to the construction industry, but no conclusion is drawn from the competing views. Major statistical issues affecting the construction industry include data availability, productivity, labor market composition, wages, and construction investment.