For Battered Construction Industry, Great Recession Lingers
The jobless rate in the construction industry has hit a whopping 20 percent and is growing even as the economy rebounds, a key industry trade group contends.
Construction spending nationally sank to an 11-year low while the industry shed another 1,000 jobs in March, the Associated General Contractors of America notes in a new report.
Total employment is down nearly 30 percent in the construction trades since employment peaked in 2006. In fact, the jobless rate in construction is the worst of any industry in the country, the trade group notes.
One problem dogging the industry is that federal stimulus spending on roadwork and other infrastructure is winding down, taking away a major prop.
And while developers in the private sector are dusting off plans they shelved during the downturn, it may be months or more before construction begins on many of these projects.
Just take downtown Boston, where Avalon Bay announced last fall it would be going ahead with long-stalled plans to build another residential tower at the Prudential complex.
Great, but construction is not likely to kick off until this fall.