• Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
  • ENGINEERS
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
  • RESOURCES
  • EMAGAZINE
  • SIGN UP!
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • PRODUCTS
  • FEATURED PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
  • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
  • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
  • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • WATER TREATMENT
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
  • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
  • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
  • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
  • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
  • CONTINUING EDUCATION
  • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
  • FIRE PROTECTION
  • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
  • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
  • PME COLUMNS
  • PME COLUMNS
  • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
  • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
  • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
  • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
  • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
  • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
  • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
  • CODES
  • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
  • PROJECT PROFILES
  • COLUMNS
  • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • COLUMNS
  • Codes Corner
  • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
  • Guest Editorial
  • MEDIA
  • EBOOKS
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
  • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
  • DIRECTORIES
  • PM BOOKSTORE
  • CE CENTER
  • MARKET RESEARCH
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
  • EMAGAZINE
  • ARCHIVE ISSUES
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE
  • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
    • FEATURED PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • EBOOKS
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!

Construction Spending Hits 11-Yr. Low, ARRA Added Jobs

By Ken Simonson
July 6, 2011
Construction spending in May totaled $753 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, the sixth consecutive monthly decrease and the lowest figure since 1999, the Census Bureau reported July 1.

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 July 1. The May total was 0.6 percent lower than in April and 7.1 percent less than in May 2010.

Private nonresidential spending provided the only ray of light, with a monthly increase of 1.2 percent and a relatively mild year-to-year decline of 5.1 percent. The strongest results came from the largest subcategory, private power (power plants, renewable power sources, transmission, and oil and gas pipelines), which climbed 4.4 percent for the month and 11.5 percent year-over-year. The next largest private nonresidential category, commercial construction (retail, warehouse and farm), slipped 0.4 percent and 2.5 percent; followed in size by manufacturing, 1.8 percent and -20 percent; health care, -0.9 percent and -5.9 percent; and office, 1.3 percent and -12 percent.

Public construction fell 0.8 percent and 9.3 percent, with the largest subcategory, highways and streets, dropping 1.5 percent and 11 percent. Public educational spending declined 2.3 percent and 8.7 percent; transportation facilities, -1.9 percent and -16 percent; sewage and waste disposal, 4.2 percent and -10 percent; and water supply, -0.9 percent and -13 percent.

Private residential spending fell 2.1 percent and 6.6 percent. The largest subcategory currently is improvements to existing single- and multifamily structures, down 3.8 percent and 1.0 percent. New single-family homes slid 0.3 percent and 12 percent; new multifamily dwellings, -2.1 percent and -6.8 percent.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act construction spending: Public investment outlays under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - much of it for construction - totaled $162 billion as of March, the Council of Economic Advisers stated July 1 in its seventh quarterly report on the economic impact of the law. Outlays in the first quarter totaled $20 billion, down from $23 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 and $33 billion in the third quarter.

“Little direct spending remains to be obligated,” the report commented. The Act “has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by between 2.4 and 3.6 million.”

In a May 26 report, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that ARRA “increased the number of people employed by between 1.2 million and 3.3 million … CBO estimates that the employment effects began to wane at the end of 2010 and continued to do so in the first quarter of 2011.”

A May 2011 paper by Daniel Wilson of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, “Fiscal Spending Jobs Multipliers: Evidence from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” found: “The estimates suggest ARRA spending created or saved about 2 million jobs in its first year and over 3 million by March 2011. Across sectors, the estimated impact of ARRA spending on construction employment is especially large, implying a 17 percent increase in employment (as of March 2011) relative to what it would have been without the ARRA.

“Looking across types of spending, I find spending on infrastructure and general fiscal aid had a large positive impact, especially on state and local government employment, while restricted aid to state governments to support Medicaid may have actually reduced state and local government employment.”

Construction employment: “Unemployment rates were lower in May than a year earlier in 274 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 85 areas and unchanged in 13 areas,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported June 29. The national unemployment rate in May was 8.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 9.3 percent a year earlier. There were 201 metro areas with year-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 157 with decreases and 14 with no change.

Construction employment increased between May 2010 and May 2011 in 120 out of 337 metro areas for which data is available (including divisions of larger metros), declined in 162 and stayed level in 55, an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America showed. (The BLS combines mining and logging with construction in most metros; unemployment data is not available by industry for metros or states.)

The Dallas-Plano-Irving metro again added more construction jobs (5,600 combined jobs, 5 percent) than any other area during the past year while Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, Massachusetts-New Hampshire, added the highest percentage (22 percent, 800 combined jobs). Other areas adding a large number of jobs included the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill., division (4,600 construction jobs, 4 percent); the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich., division (3,700 combined jobs, 11 percent); Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas, (2,900 construction jobs, 2 percent); and St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois (2,700 combined jobs, 4 percent).

The largest job losses were in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga., (-7,400 construction jobs, -8 percent); Las Vegas (-7,400 construction jobs, -16 percent); New York City (-6,700 combined jobs, -6 percent); and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., (-5,300 construction jobs, -9 percent). Lewiston, Idaho-Washington (-18 percent, -200 construction jobs) lost the highest percentage, followed by Las Vegas; Monroe, Mich. (-300 combined jobs, -15 percent); and Bend, Ore. (-15 percent, -500 combined jobs).

“The first year of wage and benefit settlements reported to the Construction Labor Research Council so far this year averages $0.98 or 1.8 percent,” the Council stated in June, “higher than the $0.55 or 1.1 percent at this time last year, but lower than the $1.49 or 3.1 percent reported two years ago.

“Similarly, years two and three in settlements negotiated to date this year are higher than years two and three last year, but lower than two years ago … At the extremes, 9 percent of the settlements were for no increase while less than 3 percent of the settlements were greater than 4.0 percent ... To date, 45 percent of the settlements have been for one year … Three years continues to be the most common duration for newly negotiated contracts.”

View state construction employment tables for May.

Links

  • AGC

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Chief Economist, Associated General Contractors of America 703-837-5313; fax -5406; www.agc.org

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
to unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Worker using the Milwaukee Tool SWITCH PACK drain cleaner

    Pipeline profits: Drain cleaning, pipe inspection create opportunities

    Drain cleaning and inspection services offer lucrative...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke
  • Uponor employee, Arturo Moreno

    The reinvestment in American manufacturing and training

    Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke and...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster
  • March 2024 Women in Plumbing hero image of woman engineer overlayed by circle of hexagon shapes with numbers from 1 to 10

    Celebrating 10 Influential Women in the Plumbing Industry

    Celebrating Women's History Month and Women in...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke
Manage My Account
  • eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • eMagazine
  • Manage My Preferences

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

NIBCO Press Solutions

NIBCO Press Solutions

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

More Videos

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the Plumbing & Mechanical audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company and any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of Plumbing & Mechanical or its parent company, BNP Media. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep!

close
  • J.J. Keller CMV vehicles on road
    Sponsored byJ. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

    The dash cam game-changer for small business safety

Popular Stories

Heat pump of air-water technology for the home.

Rethinking Heat Transfer: Why 'Natural' Isn't Always Ideal for Air-to-Water Systems

Bath & Kitchen Pro 2025 Cover 900x550 hero image

eBook | Fifth annual Bath & Kitchen Pro

Solar rooftop on apartment condo building in Nashville, Tennessee. Production of clean ecological electrical energy. Renewable electricity with zero emission.

The Age of Deregulation? Proposed Changes to Federal Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation Standards

2025 Bath & Kitchen Pro eBook

Events

November 13, 2024

Future Proofing MEP: Navigating the 2026 High Efficiency Water Heating Standards

Join our deep dive into DOE’s new standards so you can future-proof your MEP practice.

EARN: 0.1 ASPE CEU; 1 AIA LU/HSW; 0.1 IACET CEU*; 1 PDH

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Will business be up or down in 2025?

Do you anticipate business in 2025 to be up or down in comparison to 2024?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

The Water Came To A Stop

The Water Came To A Stop

See More Products

Download the FREE Water Conservation, Quality & Safety eBook: Plumbing Trends Increasing Safe Water Availability

Related Articles

  • Construction hits three-year highs

    Construction hits three-year highs as jobs climb in January; spending rises in December

    See More
  • Construction jobs shrink in May, April construction spending rises

    See More
  • March 7, 2008 ― Construction Jobs, Spending, Starts, etc. Slip; Beige Report Hints At Nonres Again

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • The Poop Diaries eimage.jpg

    The Poop Diaries

  • M:\General Shared\__AEC Store Katie Z\AEC Store\Images\Plumbing\new sites\classic_hydronics.gif

    Classic Hydronics - How To Get The Most From Those Older Hot-Water Heating Systems

  • M:\General Shared\__AEC Store Katie Z\AEC Store\Images\Plumbing\new sites\lessons_learned_in_the_boil.gif

    Lessons Learned in a Boiler Room: A common sense approach to servicing and installing commercial boilers

See More Products
×

Keep your content unclogged with our newsletters!

Stay in the know on the latest plumbing & piping industry trends.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Directories
    • Store
    • Want More
    • Supply House Times
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing

search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
    • FEATURED PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • EBOOKS
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!