Small Town News

Construction employment falls to 14-year low in June

---

Unemployment rate tops 20 percent

Seasonally adjusted construction industry employment slipped in June to the lowest total since July 1996, while the industry's unemployment rate remained at 20.1 percent, more than double the average for all workers, according to analysis of new federal figures by the Associated General Contractors of America

"The recession may have ended a year ago for most of the economy, but for construction, job losses and business closures continue every month" said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the construction trade association.

"While the rest of the economy added nearly a million jobs in the first half of 2010, 114,000 construction workers lost theirs, joining the 2 million others who have become unemployed since August 2006," Simonson said. The industry added 49,000 jobs in March and April as home-builders and highway contractors geared up, but 30,000 jobs disappeared in May, and 22,000 vanished in June, as housing cooled and nonresidential building slumped further.

The oudook for nonresidential building construction remains ominous, said Simonson. In May, the latest month for which such data is available, architectural firms laid off workers for the 21st time in 22 months.

"If there's less work for architects now, there will be less for building contractors to bid on and build in coming months," Simonson said. "In contrast, engineering and drafting firms, which design infrastructure projects, added jobs three months in a row through May."

Heavy and civil engineering construction - the category that covers most workers in transportation, power, water and wastewater construction - added 1,300 workers in June and has held roughly steady since last October, as federal stimulus funds have boosted construction in these categories, Simonson said.

"The stimulus has helped," said Stephen E. Sandherr, CEO of the association, "but any gains the industry experienced will evaporate unless Congress and the administration promptly enact long-term spending bills for transportation, water, wastewater, rivers and harbors."





© 2010 Cape Gazette Lewes, Delaware. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from Cape Gazette