Nationwide,
overall construction growth slowed from July’s 1.4% to less than half that
rate, at 0.6% for August, according to the federal Commerce Department numbers
released October 22. Housing construction was up 1.2% in August, with other
sectors of the construction economy lagging far behind housing. On the same
day, the U. S. Department of Labor announced that construction businesses added
20,000 new jobs in September, a 3.4% increase over the last 12 months to a
total of 5,826,000 construction employees across the nation.
Pointing
out that both these sets of figures are from the time right before the federal
government shutdown, Associated General Contractors Chief Economist Ken
Simonson points out that catastrophe “likely disrupted a wide variety of
projects and may have caused private investors and developers to delay
decisions about new projects or plant expansions.”
Among
Midwestern states, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin see construction
contractors returning to work, while Indiana and Ohio suffered increases in the
levels of idled construction equipment and tradespeople.
Now
that the federal government shutdown is over, at least for the next three or
four months, appropriations committees in the House are starting work on spending
bills which will help contractors who depend on infrastructure work. Wednesday,
October 23 the House passed the first such bill – the Water Resources Reform
and Development Act – which funds flood control, waterway and harbor
construction at a level $4 billion less than the Senate version passed last
May, and $15 billion less than the 2007 appropriation bill, which is the last
time Congress acted on waterway appropriations.
