Nonfarm payroll employment climbed by only 36,000 in January, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday. The unemployment rate dropped from 9.4% in December, seasonally adjusted, to 9.0% (9.8%, not seasonally adjusted).

Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 35 states and the District of Columbia and increased in 15 states from November to December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday. Compared with December 2009, employment increased in 42 states and D.C. and decreased in eight states.

AGC members polled about the outlook for 10 categories of construction in 2011 remained cautious but were more upbeat about hiring than in 2010, AGC and survey cosponsor Navigant reported today (www.agc.org). Only 16% of the responding general and specialty contractors said they expect the construction market to resume growing in 2011, 48% in 2012, 23% in 2013, and 13% in 2014.

Construction firms are facing increasing pressure in December as nearly every material used by contractors rose in price, while bid prices for new buildings remained flat, according to AGC's analysis of December producer price index figures released Thursday.

The new year has begun with price increases and announcements of more to come for steel, copper, aluminum and diesel fuel. As one construction executive told the Institute for Supply Management in its January survey of nonmanufacturing purchasing managers, “Pricing pressures are starting to heat up.”

Construction spending in November totaled $810 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up 0.4% from October and the third straight monthly gain, the Census Bureau reported on Monday. The total was down 6.0% from a year ago, the smallest year-over-year drop since April 2008.

The week before Christmas brought glad tidings to construction. But some stockings were stuffed with lumps of coal.

U.S. population increased 9.7% from 2000 to 2010, down from the 13.2% growth rate of the previous decade and the slowest 10-year growth rate since 1930-40, the Census Bureau reported today. Nevada again had the highest growth rate (35%) among states but also the biggest slowdown (31 percentage points less than in 1990-2000).

The producer price index (PPI) for finished goods rose 0.4% in November, not seasonally adjusted (0.8%, seasonally adjusted), and 3.5% from November 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday. The PPI for inputs to construction—a weighted average of the cost of materials used in all types of construction, plus items consumed by contractors such as diesel fuel—climbed 0.5% and 4.6%, respectively.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 39,000, seasonally adjusted, in November, and private-sector payrolls grew by 50,000, the 11th straight monthly increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday. Construction employment, in contrast, remained in near-recession condition.