You'll hear a lively state of the industry conversation with Kate Fox Wood, Senior Director of Government Relations, Dariana Tani, Economist (The Americas) at GlobalData, and Murray Lodge, Senior Vice President & General Manager Construction Business Unit at Topcon. In this episode, you will learn about federal guidelines to help each state improve and develop infrastructure today. They also touch on current, potential, and future expectations of the industry overall.
To view the video version of this, please visit this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNPxKyaRcs0
You'll hear a lively state of the industry conversation with Kate Fox Wood, Senior Director of Government Relations, Dariana Tani, Economist (The Americas) at GlobalData, and Murray Lodge, Senior Vice President & General Manager Construction Business Unit at Topcon. In this episode, you will learn about federal guidelines to help each state improve and develop infrastructure today. They also touch on current, potential, and future expectations of the industry overall.
To view the video version of this, please visit this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNPxKyaRcs0
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Well welcome everyone to another version of Topcon talks, construction. My name's Marie lodge and I'm the senior vice president and general manager for the construction business unit at Topcon. And today we have two fantastic guests with us. We've got Kate Foxwood who is the senior director of government relations with a M and we have Dariana Tani, who's ex economists for the Americas for global data. So these two are very knowledgeable and, uh, on the topics we're going to cover today. So I'd like to have each of them introduce themselves to you. So Kate, could you go first?
Speaker 3:Sure. I'd be happy to Marie. Um, it's good to be with everyone today. Thanks to Topcon for putting this series on and inviting me to speak. I am Kate wood. I am senior director of government relations for the association of equipment manufacturers. I try to make sure I spell out acronyms cause we run around in Washington, DC. There's so many of them, but so am represents about a thousand off highway equipment manufacturers in the construction, agriculture, forestry, utility and mining sectors. And I work in the Washington DC office for AEM overseeing our federal advocacy efforts. Um, ensuring that we are advocating for equipment manufacturers, policy priorities that include things like infrastructure, which I have a feeling we will get into quite a bit. Today. We advocate for rural America policy. So policies that are going to keep rural America strong, such as agriculture policy, rural broadband policy. We also advocate for trade policy as well as tax and then last, but certainly not least, which I believe we may talk about a bit today as well, workforce development policy. So, um, suffice it to say that we were very busy here in, in DC. Um, and I'm just happy to be here to share some updates on everything that's going on. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Okay. Uh, next we have, Dariana
Speaker 3:Tangible Roy, um, top comfort and ask him these spoke CAS, um, um, biting global data for, to participate in this and an economist of global data construction on responsible for the Americas, uh, construction coverage and forecasts with a focus on the U S Canada. Uh, the main economies, a Latino Marico, including Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Columbia, uh, global data construction. We borrowed these, uh, forecast data on analysis over 91 countries and also provide access to 150,000, uh, construction projects, uh, for
Speaker 4:Every sector and of construction. And also, uh, over 200 countries, uh, global data cover a range of industry from a technology to healthcare, to, uh, retail, consumer and mining and construction.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. Well, as I said, you can see both our panelists today are well-informed on the topics that we're going to cover. I think, you know, our, today we just, as we go through this, we're going to talk about just the economy in us and in North America and then kind of move into maybe with the new legislation and a new, uh, uh, administration that's in kind of things that will impact the construction industry. And then just really get maybe into some more details on the construction industry as a whole and the impact or the issues impacts that we're having today. So it's a start with, you know, if we look at 2020, you know, it was a challenging year for many industries, but the construction industry as a whole fair, pretty well, uh, even given the whole COVID situation. And so I just would like to know from both of you for 2021, you know, what do you see as the outlook for the upcoming year Gary on? Would you like to?
Speaker 4:So we spend that momentum in the U S restructure industry would be sustained this year. Uh, we spent growth of 1.4%. Uh, we race on the upside if precedent Biden manages to pass his infrastructure bill, uh, uh, also, uh, although growth is expected to slow, uh, slightly, uh, in the first half of this year, due to the efforts of epidemic, um, the, um, restrictions, um, the COVID-19 restrictions, uh, we expect that the seen efforts on biding coronavirus relief package worth 1.9, 3 billion, um, dollars, which is expected to be passed by mid-March on top of that 900 billion, uh, in relief that was passed last December, uh, by the trauma ministration word gave a boost to the industry this year. However, we sped that hard hate sectors, such as stress, leisure, and hospitality, and to a lesser extent, Prieto airports and offices will continue to struggle this year. Although government efforts to backs in aid, most of the us population by the end of the summer, CU allow these sectors to recover faster in the second half of this year. But we believe that the ongoing shift to online shopping, uh, which has accelerated during the pandemic, uh, is creating less demand for retail buildings are more the mindful warehouse properties. Also the shift to remote working could also affect the demand for new offices buildings in the near term. Although we believe that these will be less of an issue as the pandemic resize, uh, in the medium to long term, we expect that long standing issues, Sasha Slack, skilled labor, expensive land on pricing construction material costs will continue to hold back investment in the industry in the coming years. Although we expect by this more friendly policies to work towards immigration, as well as his long standing, um, uh, his long-term infrastructure plan to increase investment in transport, clean energy housing schools, broadband healthcare, and high-tech manufacturing. If these, um, in infrastructure bill is passed through Congress, it will create more opportunities for the growth, uh, in the industry in the years ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds like there's a lot of unknowns as we look at what's going to happen in the upcoming year. Uh, you know, Kate, we there's parts of the economy and that are doing well. Those that, that aren't when we look at from a civil side, cause we look at it from a top gun perspective and some of our listeners what their really best segment the market that's important to them. You know, what do you, what mega regions do you see and what Mar uh, segments of the civil construction side we'll be doing well?
Speaker 3:Well, Dariana nail, you know, nailed it, you know, and just outlining very well kind of all the different kind of variables that are at play here. And I kept hearing one theme was Biden, Biden, Biden. There's like such an emphasis being placed on what the president's policies are going to kind of, um, you know, like promote and push through. And, and then Marie, to your point, it's all very unknown. Like there's a lot of ideas being tossed around. There's like wild price tags being tossed around. Um, and then you get on the hit to the Hill to Capitol Hill where there's the other, the other lever of action that kind of is, is dependent on all of this as well. Congress is going to take all of these recommendations. Um, so we'll get into that in a little bit, cause, um, there's a lot of fun to talk about with what's going on, on Capitol Hill with the us, but to your question, Marie, about regions and markets segments, you know, I think to Dariana his point, um, I think from a CMS perspective, we protect that we'll see a lot of activity in the infrastructure arena. It's just continues to be not just this past a couple of months, but even during the 2016 presidential election. I mean, we've been at this for about four or five years every week is infrastructure week, right? So I definitely think there is going to be a lot of growth and opportunity there in the infrastructure. I think you're going to see a ton in it when it comes to telecommunications as well. Specifically, we talk about infrastructure. It's a really big definition for alive means a lot of things to a lot of people, right? Um, so beyond the traditional assets, like your roads, highways and bridges, I think the telecommunications industry is going to see a lot of, a lot of boosts here because there is so much conversation about broadband access. Cause you've got families and workers, businesses trying to operate at full tilt, you know, leveraging, um, you know, systems that are just, we're already maxed to begin with. And members of Congress are definitely are hearing that from their constituents. And it's all I hear about. And we talk to members of Congress as the need to expand rural broadband increased capacity. So to that end, if you look at the COVID relief package, that's working its way through Congress. Now that Dariana mentioned, or you look at some of the things that people are talking about in a bigger infrastructure package that may come next, there's a lot of money being, uh, you know, put on the table potentially for, for broadband, uh, both in urban and suburban communities, but particularly in rural communities, um, which has implications, um, not only for the equipment functionality, right, but also for the industry, the utility sector. Um, so that, that, those are kind of my predictions. I don't necessarily have any thoughts on the regions. I think everyone's going to see benefit. I don't know that there will be a section of the United States where, you know, one will benefit over the other. Um, I will mention to try to answer that question because I hate being the politician who just Dodges questions, but, um, I'm pretty good at that myself. Oh, I think you've answered it very well. I don't think you've been dodging. I'm pretty good. But I will say though, there is conversation that has really picked up steam this week, um, about earmarks coming back to Congress. So these, remember these are member directed project spending projects, um, is the, is the nicer way of saying earmarks and, you know, they were phased out, um, and banned a couple of years ago. So they haven't really been a tool that members of Congress can use to show constituents that they're delivering. But if we're to see a return of earmarks, um, that's going to be a really interesting, um, kind of indication of where money in terms of the regional aspect is going to be spent. So what members, what members are going to have their projects prioritized, um, how quickly they're going to be able to get that money spent, because that's the, one of the other big issues about your marks is that they oftentimes get allocated and appropriated and the money just sits there. Um, I was reading an article recently about in the Washington post that was reporting on some earmarks that have been sitting, you know, unspent for the past 10 years. Um, so, um, and then I'll end this by saying that the earmark conversation is certainly not done. There's still a lot of skepticism on Capitol Hill about whether that's actually gonna, um, it happened,
Speaker 2:Whether that's actually a good idea. I gotcha. Very interesting question. Yeah. Well, yeah, you've covered a lot there. If money hasn't been spent in 10 years, that project probably wasn't very important to start with. It was, it depends on who you talk to. Right. That's exactly right. Yeah. Well, yeah. So you have that broad band, obviously with people working from home more and more of it that certainly I'm sure is a hot topic, but you brought up that the legislation side of the whole thing. And I think there's a lot of things that are happening, your comment there on infrastructure. You're right. We've been hearing about that. And that's been in the previous administration, that was a key, you know, uh, thing they wanted to get past. And it just seems if you look at infrastructure and especially for the transportation has been a struggle for years to get a constant funding going into that. So with this push for the infrastructure, what do you see happening with the upcoming or potential upcoming bill? Is that going to get through finally? Is there enough people on both sides? That'll agree to that.
Speaker 4:I think with regards to the timing of the bill, I think it is unclear how long it would take to buy demonstration to pass it through Congress, but it is likely that the administration, uh, would set, um, deadline for September this year, which is when the extension of the fixing America surface transportation app expireds, uh, passing the infrastructure bill will depend on bipartisan support. Uh, but, uh, these were required, uh, of the precedent to work. We Republicans lawmakers to find common grounds. One of the things that we expect, and one of the things that we expect to see that both parties fine agreed on is 5g, as Kay mentioned, uh, technology, broadband technology to expand in rural communities, um, and also, uh, to also electric cards investment. So when we go to, uh, I think those are the things that the Republicans lawmakers on the Democrats agree on. Um, but I think, um, there is likely to doubt, um, that Biden would look to pass, uh, his infrastructure bill by using that budget reconciliation procedure, which were require like a simple majority in the Senate. And, but I think, you know, I think Seastar, publican student, like you said, in the current fiscal year, I think the, uh, Biden would have a second chance to pass the true, you know, to use it again. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I agree. It, Kate, you know, you're back in Washington and you're interacting with, you know, all the different groups that are out there and both, I don't even really see both sides. I mean, I look at it when you talk to people at, out there there's not anybody who doesn't think the infrastructure needs work, needs improvement. And is it really that hard to get bipartisan, you know, uh, uh, uh, it's on something that's affecting everybody. Do you see it really being a challenge or you think this is finally something that could actually move forward, uh, for the new infrastructure bill?
Speaker 3:Well, Mary I'm always an optimist when it comes to infrastructure. I kind of have to be, um, since I've been, I've been at least a EMS chief infrastructure cheerleader for a few years now, um, so to speak, um, and it's a role I'm, I mean, I'm very passionate about, so yes, I do think that there is at this point in time. So, um, a collective kind of push there is momentum to, to passing something on a bipartisan basis to Dariana his point, the conversation about how the bill will be passed, whether they're going to pursue the reconciliation, you know, tool, um, would not make that bi-partisan. And so at this point, though, we are hearing from, you know, the four corners of the committees. So the, the two entities, the two individuals on transportation and infrastructure on the house side, as well as the two leadership, um, members on the, in the Senate environment and public works committee, they're giving at least industry groups, every indication that they're going to get, they're going to start working on this in a bipartisan fashion. Um, there's quite a bit of competition between the two chambers going on right now, because you have, chairman's a Fazio who is such an institutional. I mean, he, his institutional knowledge on this issue is, is amazing. And he, he passed his, um, his highway bill, uh, or surface transportation, reauthorization bill out last year. Um, and you know, he's in, so he essentially has a bill already. So they're going to get to work on that, you know, very soon. Um, and I'm hearing that they're going to have a markup in early may on his, with his committee. So, and that's kind of in response to a bit of, um, a bit of gauntlet throwing that chairman Carper on the Senate side has said about his bill. Um, he is kind of starting more from scratch. Although the Senate passed, the Senate committee passed a version of the surface transportation bill in 2019, which gosh seems like eons ago, but, um, that was under a different chair, chairman Barrasso. So it's, he's kind of has an opportunity to put his own Mark on this. So it's going to take them a little bit more time. Um, but we are also hearing that they are targeting kind of a mid may timeframe. We could really start to see things. And again, this is very optimistic and again, on the condition that they pursue a bipartisan approach, that there's not a wreck, there's not an appeal to reconciliation there. Um, we may see something by Memorial day. Um, I always get that question about timeline, right? Um, but Dariana his point is, is that the very minimum, the surface transportation program will expire in September. Um, they were unable to pass a long-term reauthorization last year, they kicked the can down the road. Um, and so they have to do something at least on the surface piece. Um, as Dariana mentioned, president Biden is, I mean, envisioning something much broader though than just roads highways and bridges. There's a lot more entailed with his, that, that$1.9 trillion price tag. So how it's all going to come together as still very much being discussed, um, and how the different committees that have different jurisdictions over all these entities. It's not just in one committee in the Senate and one committee in the house. There's, if you start talking about broad ban that expands the scope of it. If you start talking about public transit, that expands the scope of it, it's a, it's, it's a fascinating puzzle. Um, but I do think that their momentum is there. Uh, the president is hosting lawmakers, you know, at the white house, bi-partisan delegations of lawmakers to talk about infrastructure on a regular basis. He's engaging his secretary of transportation, secretary Buddha, judge. You're seeing a level of stakeholders coming together that we haven't seen consistently in, in, in when it comes to infrastructure. So, um, so today I'm optimistic about it. I don't know. Dariana, I don't know what your thoughts are if I'm being too Pollyanna, so to speak.
Speaker 4:Well, I think it would take, I mean, it, regarding to the timing of the thing for Scottsville, I think it will take a beta of bipartisan support and, and I think the Biden administration, there's no doubt that they will try to use again, that budget, uh, reconciliation, uh, procedure, uh, to, to pass it through Congress. And, uh, and I think, um, there's that line for, for it? I think they will say that that live for September this year, um, because of the extension of, uh, of this bill, all of this, the surface transportation ad bill, uh, will expire, uh, at the end of September. So, uh, but I think one of these, uh, as I mentioned before, that both Republicans and Democrats agree on are, um, the 5g investment in 5g technology and investment it also, and electric carts and charging infrastructure are the national level. Well, yeah, hopefully we do
Speaker 2:Get some, uh, compromising and, uh, make some headway on that because the infrastructure bill would be very important to our listeners here today. So as we move on, we look outside of the legislature and we kind of maybe hone in on the construction industry as a whole. You know, one of the topics that Topcon has been bringing up for years is the lack of, you know, development increase in productivity, in the construction industry. As a whole, you look at all the other manufacturing industries, they have really adopted technology and continue to grow and expand construction is one of the largest industries in the world. And yet, if you look at it over the last, you know, 30, 40 years productivity has not gone up at all and, you know, people have been doing it the old school way and it's falling behind. Is it going to continue that way? Or are there things happening that realize that we need to do things differently to be more catch up with the other industries that have already adopted technology?
Speaker 4:I think under the Byron ministration efforts to raise investment in technologies that capture and reduce, um, cover and emissions, uh, can be expected to accelerate in the next years, um, we can expect to see the government to push forward its policy, to accelerate investment in new technology, such as electric carts and charging infrastructure, as well as investment in electric, uh, smart electric grades, um, renewable energy resources, as well as, um, efforts to electrify the building sector and increase energy efficiency, uh, in a range of weights. So we can also expect to see efforts, uh, to accelerate investment around the next generation of building materials and key technologies like battery on, uh, energy storage, uh, that can cop prices for off electric cards on increase the variety. Uh, this will not only create millions of new jobs, uh, but also boosts the country's manufacturing and technology centers. Um, in terms of electric cards, we, the precedent has plans to restore a tax credit, to encourage, uh, more families to buy electric arts. Um, he also have plans to work with Congress, the state and local governments and the private sector to adopt these technologies, and also, um, invest in the construction of a national, um, electric charging system to power the elect, uh, to power. Then, um, we also going to see effort to install, uh, advance, um, metering systems to modernize the country's electory greets, um, the, which is going to help like, uh, you know, to support all the regional electric, uh, markets. Um, we can also expect to see actions to accelerate, um, the development of low carbon aviation and shipping technology, the construction of highest SPE right, well networks, uh, while many estates or local governments in the U S have already step up efforts to adopt many of these technologies, the Biden administration has plans to create more incentives to accelerate the adoption.
Speaker 2:Okay. So yeah, if you look at that, that carbon footprint trying to lower that, and so from a construction standpoint, you've got most of your equipment today is runs off of diesel and Totoro to lower the carbon footprint. You've either got to convert those to electric, or those machines have to run more efficiently. And that kind of plays into what Topcon as a company. And if we, if we can double the speed or double the productivity of the machine, obviously then the less carbon is being put into the field. So that's where, you know, when I talked about technology, you know, is going beyond just, uh, the traditional ways in some governments, you know, cause it's just not a, it's a problem all over. And in some countries, the government has actually provided stimulus to get the contractors themselves, to adopt technology where they realize without incentive for the, or helping the contractors, they're going to continue to do the same way. Kate is that you see any chance of that happening, uh, in the U S or, you know, in North America where some of the stimulus would be to try and get these old school thinking more modern.
Speaker 3:I would never, I would never say to my state DOD friends that they're old school, I would probably get a lot of raised eyebrows on that one, but I worry you're right. That I, and we talked about this before, about you, about what other nations are doing in this arena. You know, there are several different recent iterations of legislation, um, that I referenced in the Senate and the house when, as it turns, as it relates to the surface transportation reauthorization that tackles the concept of incentivizing technology adoption, um, so relevant to today's discussion, you know, as you were just talking about Marie, there was language included in, in those two bills that would direct the secretary of transportation to develop a program under the technology and innovation deployment program. That's a mouthful, but essentially to promote the application of advanced digital construction management systems. So that may not be as, as strong as a mandate as you will, as you see in other nations, like in the UK or in Japan, but this would, um, you know, in a gentle way, um, seek to accelerate state[inaudible] adoption, uh, by doing things such as encouraging them to weigh the cost of digitalization and technology when setting their project budgets, um, you know, encouraging, um, you know, the workforce development kind of piece of this, trying to figure out how we're going to, you know, train the next generation of, of, um, construction workers to understand this technology. And so having that language inserted in a such an important piece of infrastructure legislation does indicate that there is an understanding, you know, in the halls of Congress, that we see that the digital construction and technology has an important role to play in the future. And to Dariana his point about just the emphasis that's being placed on green energy, green infrastructure, electric vehicle charging. I mean, this is, this is an opportunity for, for the equipment manufacturing industry to make the case about how this technology does things like minimizes rework improves idle time, all these things that will help reduce emissions and kind of help the administration and help, uh, secretary Buddha judges goal of reducing administration within the transportation sector. Um, we just recently had a conversation with some folks over at USD. So these are folks who just got in, you know, a couple of weeks ago. Um, and they, you know, they have long, long careers in, in, in transportation, uh, whether at the municipal level or at the state level or at the federal level, but it was a really awesome opportunity to present to them what the equipment manufacturing industry is doing to reduce emissions. So get the opportunity to talk about the electric vacation trends that the industry is seeing, whether that's a hybrid, you know, or just, you know, full fledged electrification. Um, and I think we got a lot of, a lot of surprises from that meeting in terms of just, they didn't know that that's what the industry was doing. We talked about the technology piece and how important it was for, you know, for that goal that, you know, emissions reduction goal with them. Um, and the other points that we wanted to make clear, and we're going to continue to emphasize those within the administration and on Congress, as it relates to kind of the environmental benefits, um, as well as the emissions goal that they have is that at least for equipment manufacturers off highway equipment, it's not the same as, as a personal as automobiles. So the kind of emissions standards and things and policies that you're placing on personal vehicle use is not, it is very different, you know, while the industry is making advancements on things like electrification, these, you know, they're not operating in environments where there are charging and there's charging infrastructure at the ready. Um, so we need to address that. Um, there are safety implications to consider when you're thinking about technicians working on some of this equipment, um, there's, there's a little uncertainty about whether that's actually a safe move for them. So, um, I think there's, it's important to emphasize to the administration that the industry is moving forward and, and at a very rapid pace much like was done with the tier four, you know, engine emissions, uh, you know, and, and those steps that were taken, but that we need to be a partner with them in that effort. Um, and, and, you know, it should try to avoid any regulatory maneuverings that would, you know, seriously hinder our disadvantage, the industry, you know, at this time. So, um, I guess what's the saying, I'd rather be at the table than on the menu. And so that's really what we were emphasizing to regulators at DDOT a few weeks ago. Um, and again, a lot of really, it was really good dialogue, a lot of, a lot of, uh, light bulbs going off like, Oh, I didn't know that this, you know, I just thought all this heavy equipment was just diesel, you know, diesel dirty, you know, and it was just a really good, and so we're making inroads and, and, and converting some folks to just how advanced the technology is, you know, in the off-highway industry these days. So,
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great point. I think the, where we are today, because things are changing so rapidly is we need to educate, you know, there's so many things that are out there that can change things to the better, but it's a matter of just getting everybody on foreign so they know what's available and not there, the whole thing that was done with tier four. I mean, people don't realize that what comes out of a tier four engine today is, you know, is cleaner than a lot of the time that the air that's coming into it and, you know, and try to take that. So there is things that are happening and there's a lot more that, uh, needs to, so you, you bring that up, you know, educating and looking at the construction industry where it is, you know, part of it. The other thing is we're in the construction industry is suffering is a lack of workforce, or at least if you talk to the contractors today, many of them are saying their number one issue is finding people. And did seems to be that more of this younger generation is looking to get into computers or gaming or something else. And yet we have to have people in construction cause we have to be able to do the 5g, to build the roads, to build the buildings, you know, does is Washington and do others see this as a problem? And is there a way that we can change this trend from what it is today?
Speaker 4:Well, I think that is a key issue on long standing issue in the industry, the, the, you know, the industry has faced in the past, uh, years, uh, and in particularly, uh, in particular, the lack of skilled labor, which is causing wage inflation on leading to additional increases in home prices and as well as building costs in general. So on a, is this Carter gene home developers to build more affordable houses. So we think that by then, uh, friendly policies towards immigration, uh, could help address some of these issues. Um, the precedent has already passed a number of, uh, secretary orders, uh, related to immigration around 11 so far. Um, um, including the order to stop the construction works of the border wall. We met sicko and he also interviews, uh, an immigration bill, uh, in February, um, known as the us citizenship act of 2021 and to establish, uh, a year pathway to provide us citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented, uh, people. So the bill is part of Biden's campaign proposals to overhaul the entire, uh, the country's immigration system. And he spread perhaps the most ambitious, uh, bill, uh, immigration bill that any administration has put forward in decades. I think, um, whether the bill, uh, I think we'll get passed through Congress, um, I think that will depend on again on bipartisan support and even the Democrats at a slim majority in the Senate, it would, um, require a Biden administration to gain 10 Senate Republican boats to a boy, the filibuster,
Speaker 2:Yeah, we getting more workers in would definitely be helped to it. You know, there's a lot of talk about train increasing the minimum wage States have done it, and they're maybe looking at it from a federal standpoint. You know, the construction industry actually pays very well and, you know, there's people that are at, in different ways to make a livable salary and a career. And I think, you know, the construction industry is often overlooked for that. And I know AEM has really been targeting some of that. Kate, can you share any insight as to what you guys have been doing?
Speaker 3:I'd be happy to, um, to build on that point about just the, the, the compensation, um, benefits in the construction industry, um, being above average, the equipment manufacturing industry, you know, from soup to nuts pays it's, I, I don't want to misquote this, but it pays about 30% over the national average. So the dialogue around the minimum wage conversation is very important for a number of reasons, but the industry already pay off. At least the manufacturing industry already pays above, above that. Well above that. So, and we've been making that case in the public and the public awareness efforts. We definitely make that case when we're talking to folks about why they need to get engaged with the industry. Um, you know, we could probably spend all day talking about, um, the public awareness campaign that's being undertaken to kind of recast manufacturing and construction as technologically advanced, as challenging as engaging rather than, you know, the traditional manufacturing job that is has sometimes. And I, and I never thought this, but I could see why some folks did is that, is it, it's a dirty job. It's not, you know, it's, it's so, um, and we're making inroads there. Um, legislatively two things I want to flag for listeners, um, as well as for you Marie, and Dariana, as I'm sure you're aware of is that there is a renewed interest in the apprenticeship program in terms of modernizing it, the national apprenticeship program that is run has not been updated since it was first authorized in the 1930s. I want to say, and you can imagine how just dramatically different the workforce landscape and the skills are acquired, um, you know, have changed since that time. So there is a bipartisan effort going on right now to reform the apprenticeship program. The registered apprenticeship program am when it comes to registered apprenticeships, um, are in support of modernizing the, the S the, the current system. We would like to see more flexibility for employers within that system. We have a number of OEMs that have attempted to, you know, launch and register their apprenticeship programs that deliver incredible results, um, but have, have had any number of kind of roadblocks when they go to register. It's a very difficult process. And so we're going to continue to push for, um, you know, some middle ground where employers have a little bit more flexibility so that because we see the system that their apprenticeship, um, the apprenticeship platform, that whole philosophy has worked, you know, for a number of nations. Um, it it's worked in the U S you know, so we want to see it. We want to really see it take off. Cause we see it would really benefit, not just equipment manufacturing, but construction as well. And then the other piece is this focus on what has happened to displace workers as a result of COVID. And in terms of Dariana mentioned the, uh, th th the difficulty that the hospitality and leisure industry are experiencing. So you have a host of workforce from that, that industry that are looking for retraining and re-skilling opportunities. And that's an, that's an awesome opportunity for the equipment manufacturing industry in the construction industry. And so Congress is working at, uh, reauthorizing, the federal job training program that is up. So it's called the workforce innovation opportunity act. We Ella, again, another acronym got to love it. Um, but to that end, if they're able to reauthorize this at a funding level, that will actually make a difference, then we're in business, you know, in terms of retraining rescaling, um, and it could mean great things for the workforce development efforts for a whole new generation of Americans. Honestly, the, the thing that we continue to, to, to encounter the roadblock that we continue to encounter is just the funding level. There just w we, we are trying to build momentum to increase that funding level to a point where it's actually effective because to date, you know, when you look at the federal pie, the spending for workforce development, adult retraining and jobs and job rescaling has not really been the priority that it needs to be. So, yeah, unfortunately COVID has kind of given us an opportunity where we're able to take that on. So just two things to flag apprenticeships, and then, uh, the we're, the WEOA reauthorization. Um, so a lot going on in the workforce arena, when it comes on the Hill,
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. You actually, you're, you're the, you talk about that and the displacement COVID being bad and displacing people from jobs that may be a while in coming back and being able to retrain them to go into something different. Yeah. And I think he, if he tied that in with that previous discussion we had with technology, you know, for someone to say, Oh, I never been on a piece of equipment before. I've never done that. I can't, but being able to come in and utilize technology to all of a sudden, be able to get in the seat of the piece of equipment and be able to operate it or to get out on the job and realize that it's not impossible. It's just about that, uh, being a trained to do that. So that is very enlightening and encouraging that, uh, on across all fields, if there's ways to employ more people and these people to, to make more money. Well, listen, this has been fantastic. And I think we could keep going on here for another, like I said, hours or days on these types of topics that are affecting so many of us, uh, I, I just want to thank both of you for joining us today. And if you have anything else that you'd like to add here, please do Dariana. Is there anything else that you'd like to add to our conversation?
Speaker 4:I think what you mentioned about Reese Kayleen on, on also, uh, what Kate mentioned that about rescaling and also, um, how pain, uh, workers in the leisure and hospitality sector to probably enter in the construction industry, I think is, is, is, uh, is great that the government was more the, you know, they say these policies are great, but I think ultimately I think in the long-term, we're going to need more than that for, uh, to lower costs, uh, building costs and industry, uh, because I think I see you, you know, you, you, you know, only have the issues with like, uh, wage inflation because of you to the lack of skilled labor, also known as skilled labor is an issue, uh, in the industry. And I think that, um, by it, as mobile-friendly immigration policies are or friendly immigration policies, I think we're definitely could help their, the, the sector to, you know, to address this issues. Um, we also going to see that, um, uh, you know, although he's going to, he's going to keep tough on China. Uh, I think, um, like we're going to expect that a less disruptive, uh, foreign environment in general would help, um, address also issues. We home-building, um, also rising, uh, housing costs, uh, in general. I think we also have to look into that. I mean, I, I don't know if you've seen, like recently lumber prices, Reesh like Brecker highs recently. And, uh, and I think this is adding to home builders and on is probably limit homebuilding activity this year. Uh, we also have seen mortgage rates, uh, rice in, in recent weeks. And, uh, as the[inaudible] continues to recover, uh, we are going to see efforts from the federal reserve, the fed to, to be less inclined to, to, to buy mortgage spot securities, to maintain these mortgage rates at these frequent loads. So I think we agreed to, um, we have to bear these costs Asia's in mind. And, uh, but I think is quite, uh, good to see that the government, the U S government has, is been putting all these, you know, policies and measures in place. I'd hopefully I think, uh, by the end of this year, uh, we get, uh, uh, infrastructure and bail pass, uh, and that definitely going to boost not only the construction sector, but also the technology, um, the, the, uh, manufacturing sectors.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think that housing supply and demand is certainly been skewed with the COVID, you know, people now wanting to a lot of move rural and get out of the city. Yeah. Housing market really across the entire country has been very strong. And as you said, with record low rates, you know, all those things have played together to make a strong market and, and, uh, appears to be, it's going to continue for much longer, uh, you know, Kate, anything else you'd like to add to our conversation today?
Speaker 4:I, you know, I just want to say that I've enjoyed this conversation so much. Dariana, it's been a pleasure, Marie, a pleasure. Thank you for having me. I hope all of our hopes and dreams come true when it comes to it.
Speaker 2:And that's that optimistic attitude you have Kate, and we love that. And that's, uh, what keeps everybody happy? Uh, okay. Well, thank both of you for joining us. Uh, I would like to thank all our listeners for participating, and hopefully this has been an enjoyable conversation for you today, and we look forward to you participating in the next one.
Speaker 1:Thank you.[inaudible].