AGC (Associated General Contractors) reports that construction spending hit an 11-year low in May 2011

..... and that Construction-sector unemployment is down 29% from peak in April 2006.

Two recent articles on AGC’s web-site:

HEADLINE:

Data Digest: Construction spending hits 11-year low; ARRA added jobs, 3 studies find

July 07, 2011

Construction spending in May totaled $753 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, the sixth consecutive monthly decrease (following downward revisions to April and March data that initially both showed increases) and the lowest figure since 1999, the Census Bureau reported on Friday.

Access complete article at this Internet address:

http://news.agc.org/2011/07/07/data-digest-construction-spending-hits-11-year-low-arra-added-jobs-3-studies-find/

HEADLINE:

7/8 Data DIGest: Construction Jobs Dip in June; Reports Vary on Apartment, Office, Data-Center Demand

July 08, 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by only 18,000, seasonally adjusted, in June, and the gains for April and May were pared by a combined 44,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. The unemployment rate edged up from 9.1% in May to 9.2%, seasonally adjusted (9.3%, not seasonally adjusted). Construction employment totaled 5,513,000, seasonally adjusted, down 9,000 from May, up 2,000 from June 2010 and down 2,213,000 (29%) from the peak in April 2006. The unemployment rate for construction workers was 15.6%, not seasonally adjusted, down from 20.1% in June 2010. (BLS does not report seasonally adjusted rates by industry.) The combination of static employment and falling unemployment suggests that discouraged workers are retiring, going back to school or finding jobs in other industries rather than returning to construction—a bad omen for future industry expansion.

Access complete article at this Internet address:

http://news.agc.org/2011/07/08/78-data-digest-construction-jobs-dip-in-june-reports-vary-on-apartment-office-data-center-demand/