The “shared global experience” of COVID-19 continues to be the primary factor shaping the U.S. economy, said economist Anirban Basu, CEO of Sage Policy Group, in a presentation to the Construction Users Roundtable National Conference on Feb. 8. While a second wave of the pandemic held back economic growth as the U.S. headed into 2021, Basu forecasts a surging economy and construction industry in the latter half of the year.
The U.S. and much of Europe saw big declines through 2020, with U.S. growth output down 3.4% and European nations such as Spain and Italy experiencing output decline of 11.1% and 9.2%, respectively.