Nonfarm payroll employment climbed in March by 162,000, seasonally adjusted, and the unemployment rate remained for a third straight month at 9.7% (10.2%, not seasonally adjusted), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Construction employment rose by 15,000 to 5,592,000, the first gain since June 2007. The increase followed a drop of 59,000 in February, which had unusually severe weather; it will take another month or more of data to determine is the March figure is a turnaround or an anomaly. Nonresidential employment rose by 24,500, following a drop of 46,600, with similar patterns in all three BLS categories: nonresidential building (9,400 in March; -15,900 in February); nonresidential specialty trades (9,400; -19,900); and heavy and civil engineering, (6,000; -15,900). Residential employment decreased in both months (-10,100; -12,200), with similar patterns in both BLS categories: residential building (-800; -6,700) and specialty trades (-9,300; -25,500). Architectural and engineering services employment, an indicator of future demand for construction, dipped by 200 jobs for the month, far milder than the 12-month average of -6,400. The unemployment rate in construction was 24.9% in March, not seasonally adjusted (BLS does not calculate seasonal adjustments for industry unemployment), up from 21.1% in March 2009. Average hourly earnings rose just 1.8%, seasonally adjusted, from March 2009 to March 2010 for all private-sector employees (to $22.47), and 2.1% for construction employees (to $25.27, 12% above the all-private average). Hourly earnings for production or nonsupervisory workers in March averaged $18.90 for the private sector (up 2.1% from March 2009) and $23.18 for construction craft workers (up 2.5%; 23% higher than the private-sector average).
Construction spending in February totaled $846 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, a drop of 1.3% from January 2010, 13% from February 2009, and the lowest mark since 2002, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday. Census made annual adjustments to January and December data that lowered those totals 3% and 2.2%, respectively. Public construction fell 1.7% for the month and 5.4% year-over-year, with declines in most major subsegments (listed in decreasing size): highways and streets, -2.1% and -2.1%; educational, -0.8% and -12%; transportation facilities, 0.3% and 17%; and sewage and waste disposal, -5.3% and -3.3%. Private nonresidential construction fell 0.4% and -24%. Among top subsegments, there were gains only for the largest, power construction, 1.3% and 9.0%, and for the month for manufacturing, 3.4% and -35%. Commercial (retail, warehouse and farm) construction tumbled 3.5% and 38%; private health care, -2.1% and -17%; and private offices, -2.0% and -38%. Private residential construction fell 2.1% and -3.8%, with the monthly total pulled down by a 4.3% drop (but a 4.3% year-over-year increase) in improvements to existing single- and multi-family construction. New single-family construction slipped 0.1% in February after eight consecutive monthly increases and was finally up 3.9% year-over-year. New multi-family was unchanged for the month but down 52% from February 2009.
New orders from U.S. factories (excluding semiconductor manufacturing) increased for the 10th time in 11 months in February, by 0.6%, seasonally adjusted, Census reported on Wednesday. Orders for construction materials and supplies climbed 1.6% in February and 0.3% in January but were 0.1% lower for the first two months of 2010 combined than in the same period of 2009. Orders for construction machinery fell 0.6%, following a 0.5% decline in January, but the two-month total was 32% higher than in January-February 2009.
State and local tax revenues grew in the fourth quarter, "the first quarter of positive growth in five quarters," Census reported on Tuesday. "Of the four largest tax categories, property tax and corporate income tax increased in the fourth quarter, while general sales tax and individual income tax continued to decline, though the declines are not as sharp as they have been for the past four quarters." Property taxes are particularly important for school construction.
The 10 largest counties all lost large numbers of construction jobs in the year ending in the third quarter of 2009 but differed in average wage levels and changes, according to BLS estimates released today. There were 838,000 construction establishments (separate permanent locations) in the U.S., employing 5,957,000 workers (down 18% from the third quarter of 2008, whose weekly wage averaged $934 (up 1.3%). For the 10 most populous counties in descending order, the figures were: Los Angeles County, 112,800 employees (-22%) and average weekly wages of $1,023 (+3.1%); Cook, Illinois (Chicago area), 76,500 employees (-17%), $1,271 (-0.9%); New York County (Manhattan only), 32,400 employees (-16%), $1,551 (1.4%); Harris, Texas (Houston), 138,700 employees (-12%), $1,033 (2.5%); Maricopa, Arizona (Phoenix area), 88,800 employees (-32%), $869 (-1.1%); Dallas, 72,000 employees (-15%), $940 (2.4%); Orange, Calif., 70,400 employees (-23%), $1,099 (0.6%); San Diego County, 58,600 employees (-23%), $1,032 (4.6%); King, Washington (Seattle area), 53,800 employees (-25%), $1,123 (3.7%); and Miami-Dade, 34,200 employees (-22%), $862 (1.8%).
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