Slowing warehouse construction could extend squeeze on space
Construction of new warehouses is slowing as developers grapple with rising interest rates and declining leasing activity, potentially prolonging an ongoing shortfall in logistics space.
U.S. industrial construction starts fell 24% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from real-estate analysis firm CoStar Group Inc. Developers began building about 137 million square feet of new warehouse space, the lowest amount of new space to start construction in a quarter since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Amazon focused on streamlining operations after an unprofitable year
Amazon reported a 9% net sales increase in Q4, though product sales fell 1.2% to $70.5 billion. The e-commerce giant remains determined to make up losses through a mix of productivity initiatives, layoffs and other cost-cutting initiatives.
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More workers in truck transportation in 2022 than earlier estimate
The January employment report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released in early February, is watched not just for the change in jobs numbers from December, as is the case in the other 11 months of the year.
More importantly for labor economists, annual revisions to the underlying model are implemented and they can result in big swings in the estimates of employment levels in some sectors. And that is what happened in truck transportation and warehousing in the figures released Friday.