Construction jobs reach record high in October

New construction employment, spurred largely by rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, rose in October, and overall construction employment reached a record high in October, an industry trade group reported over the weekend.

Construction accounted for 33,000 of 56,000 new jobs created in October, or 59 percent, and those 33,000 jobs pushed national construction employment to 7,312,000, a record, according to a hiring and spending report compiled Nov. 5 by Associated General Contractors.

The figures were taken from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

The construction industry has created 279,000 jobs since October 2004, a 4 percent gain.

Increases have occurred among all of the BLS' construction segments, AGC said, with 37,000 jobs added in the residential building sector, a 4 percent gain; 17,000 jobs created in the nonresidential building sector, a 2 percent gain; 36,000 jobs added in the heavy and civil engineering sector, a 4 percent gain; 120,000 jobs added in the residential specialty trades sector, a 6 percent gain; and 59,000 jobs added in the nonresidential specialty trades sector, a 3 percent gain.

Average hourly earnings for construction workers rose $0.07 for October and have risen $0.26 for the past 12 months, a 1.3 percent gain, since October 2004 to $19.60 per hour, AGC said.

Construction spending up again

Construction spending climbed to a record high for the third straight month in September, AGC said, reaching $1.12 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 5 percent higher than the upwardly revised July total and 7 percent higher than in September 2004.

Those figures were taken from a U.S. Census Bureau report.

For the first nine months of 2005, construction spending exceeded the total spent in the same months of 2004 by 9 percent, AGC said.

According to the trade association, private residential spending for January through September was 11 percent higher than in the same months of 2004, private nonresidential spending was 5 percent higher and public spending was 7 percent higher.

The largest year-to-date spending gains, AGC said, were in manufacturing, at 25 percent; multi-retail, which includes big box and other general merchandise stores, shopping centers and malls, at 24 percent; multifamily, at 20 percent; hospitals, at 13 percent; sewage and waste disposal, at 12 percent; single-family, at 11 percent; and streets, at 11 percent.

Sectors that saw construction spending decline included private electric power, dropping 18 percent, and amusement and recreation, dropping 6 percent.

Materials in short supply

Contractors who responded to a weekly AGC call for changes in material availability told the association that construction materials, polyvinyl chloride and PVC products, resin-based products, roofing materials and tires were items in short supply.

Construction-related items that increased in cost according to respondents, AGC said, included construction services, labor and materials; carpet; cement; concrete; copper; diesel fuel, freight charges, shipping costs and fuel surcharges; lumber and lumber products; natural gas, oil, PVC and resin-based products; roofing materials; steel and steel pipe; and tube fittings and tubing.

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