After reducing capital spending on construction somewhat during the past two years, UPMC is revving back up. This week AIM Construction was selected to do the construction management for the $30 million Presbyterian Hospital HVI project. UPMC also awarded a contract to Massaro Corp. for the $5 million renovation to one patient floor, 5G at Presbyterian Hospital. Turner Construction was awarded a $2.3 million contract for renovations to the HVI unit at UPMC Passavant. Another renovation project, the $6.5 million Hill Building went out to bid to Massaro, Mascaro, Landau, Rycon, Gilbane, AIM, & Turner.

In other hospital construction news, Wheeling Hospital is working through value engineering with Landau and Volpatt on its $20 million-plus continuing care unit.

Today’s jobs report suggests that the US economy continues to expand. Employers added 156,000 jobs in September. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the July numbers downward to 252,000 and the August numbers upward to 167,000. More important than the headline numbers is the improvements in the underlying workforce. Wages rose 2.6% year-over-year; hours worked were up again; and 444,000 people were added to the labor pool, which pushed unemployment back up to 5%. Since last September, over three million more people have joined the workforce. That’s nearly triple the 1.2 million who were added through immigration, although still not enough to offset retirements.