The amount of construction work funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, popularly called the stimulus legislation) varies greatly by state and program. Two weeks ago, I spoke on successive days to state transportation officials in Colorado, New Mexico and Maine. They said they had awarded contracts covering 69%, 80% and 100% of their respective DOT allocations. But, of course, those percentages don't necessarily correspond to amounts paid out or even work started. Other states are far behind those three in even holding bid-letting days to pick contractors.Meanwhile, the only contractors in those states who reported having received - or even heard about - stimulus projects were highway contractors. It appears that little of the more than $100 billion of non-highway stimulus construction money has turned into projects under way.One reason for the delay has been the requirement to use only U.S.-made iron, steel and manufactured materials. For certain water and wastewater treatment pipe, fittings and equipment, even the U.S.-based manufacturers incorporate foreign-made components in their products. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a half-dozen waivers to allow non-U.S. equipment but there are reportedly three times as many requests awaiting waivers.In addition, there has been uncertainty over reporting and other administrative requirements. AGC staff have submitted detailed comments on areas needing clarification and met with agencies to get them to expedite grants, loan guarantees and contracts so the stimulus act will work as intended to save or create much-needed jobs.ARRA includes a variety of bond and tax credit provisions intended to spur more construction. States and localities have begun to issue taxable Build America bonds to fund projects that would have waited longer for traditional tax-exempt financing. But governments differ a lot in how much use they have made of these or other new and expanded financing mechanisms.Contact simonsonk@agc.org if you win a stimulus contract, are involved with any ARRA financing vehicle, or hear about contracts being delayed for any reason. AGC will use the information to make sure all levels of government improve their performance in making stimulus put construction workers and others back on the job.

Construction employment declined in all but 19 communities nationwide this June as compared to June-2008, according to a new analysis of metropolitan-area employment data released by AGC.

Developer-financed construction is shriveling. The latest monthly figures from the Census Bureau on construction spending show big downturns in May from April and from May 2008 in categories that typically rely heavily on bank financing. (The percentages are calculated from numbers that are seasonally adjusted, to account for normal month-to-month variation.)Private office construction spending eked out a gain of 0.1 percent from April but sank 18 percent from a year ago. Lodging sank 2.6 percent and 17 percent. Warehouse construction was off 6 percent and 36 percent. Retail construction was down 6 percent and 31 percent. Multifamily plunged 9.6 percent and 29 percent.These results are consistent with responses sent by Data DIGest readers in the past two months, who universally reported no improvement in credit conditions since the lending spigot was snapped shut last fall.In contrast, the municipal-bond market, which also was moribund in September, has come back to life. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included several new, expanded or extended bond provisions that have helped, notably "Build America Bonds."To report your experiences, good or bad, with bank, corporate or government financing, send an email to simonsonk@agc.org.

In light of recent job loss figures, AGC's chief executive officer Steve Sandherr urged the administration and Congress to stimulate new commercial lending and hasten non-transportation stimulus construction projects that have yet to begin.

AGC's chief economist Ken Simonson was quoted in Tuesday's New York Times.  Simonson commented on the effect of the recession and interest rates on the multi-family housing industry.

AGC released employment data last week that underscored the need for speedy distribution of stimulus funds.  According to AGC's chief economist Ken Simonson, construction employment fell in 288 of the nation's largest 311 metro areas from April 2008 to April 2009.A detailed chart of the data by area is available here.  A variety of media outlets covered this news, including the Austin Business Journal and the Associated Press.For more information, contact Ken Simonson at (703) 837-5313 or simonsonk@agc.org.

More and more construction firms report winning stimulus contracts that are enabling them to add employees and avoid expected layoffs. But the stimulus money is not enough to overcome the fall in private and state and local-funded projects. Meanwhile, the Buy American provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) threatens to undercut the job gains.The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on June 5 that construction employment fell by 59,000, seasonally adjusted, in May. Dismal as this number sounds, it was only half as great a job loss as in recent months. Recent job losses in residential construction, while still proportionately worse than in nonresidential construction have been moderating. Within a few months it is likely that homebuilding will stop falling and begin to add workers.Unfortunately, the downturn in nonresidential construction is likely to worsen for the rest of the year. As private projects wrap up-or get scaled back or halted in midstream-contractors have been unable to pick up new customers. And state revenue forecasts keep deteriorating, triggering further slashes to public construction budgets.A steady flow of stimulus money is showing up in highway projects. Water and wastewater construction grants looked promising as well. But some of these projects are being held up by uncertainty over Buy American language. ARRA generally requires contractors to use only U.S.-made iron, steel and materials, and to certify that they have done so.Certain key water and wastewater equipment is available only from foreign suppliers. Other items come from a single U.S. source. In some cases, contractors cannot get a certification as whether all of the components of a piece of installed equipment are U.S.-made.These problems have reportedly held up some project awards and led other water and sewer agencies to forgo stimulus money altogether. In addition, Canadian municipalities have threatened to retaliate against cities that use Buy American to keep out Canadian-made items. This step could escalate to a full-blown trade war that would lose jobs for contractors and many other businesses.AGC is pressing federal agencies to provide clarifications and waivers in order to enable stimulus to achieve its intended goal of putting people to work quickly.Please email simonsonk@agc.org if you have an example of a stimulus project that has been held up or made more expensive by Buy American provisions.

On May 19, I had the privilege, along with a handful of other members of the National Association for Business Economics, to brief Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Governor Dan Tarullo on the state of the economy. Thanks to the feedback many of the 12,000 subscribers to the Data DIGest have provided to my "Questions of the Week," I was able to report that some of you are now receiving some stimulus contracts and have seen an improvement in the state and local bond market, but no loosening of credit for developer-financed construction projects.I also updated the governors and staff on the changes in materials costs in the year since I gave Chairman Bernanke a copy of the Construction Inflation Alert at the last Fed briefing I attended.Later in the week, I had a chance to speak with Austan Goolsbee, a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and staff director of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, offering to supply information on stimulus contracts and hiring. Steve Sandherr also communicated with the Board about the progress of stimulus and the possibility of additional stimulus funding.Additionally, I met with the chief statistician of the U.S. and top officials at the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, providing each with suggestions of data that would be useful for the construction industry and for public agencies concerned about construction costs or jobs.AGC was the only construction-related representative in these meetings. In each of these cases, your feedback and suggestions enabled AGC to provide specific facts and ideas to better inform policy makers. Keep those emails coming to simonsonk@agc.org!For more information, contact Ken Simonson at (703) 837-5313 or simonsonk@agc.org.

AGC's chief economist Ken Simonson explained in a statement that the recent Associated Press story on stimulus transportation funds fails to acknowledge several unique facts about the construction industry.  The AP story does not consider that construction jobs are not site-specific and that workers will spend income in their hometown, among other factors.

In a recent interview with Reuters News, AGC's chief economist Ken Simonson said that he expected growth in the second quarter due to a "sharp drop in business inventories."  The article, ISRI-Analysts see US economy bottoming, vary on how long, presented the views of several leading economists, and Simonson's outlook was the most positive.