Data Digest: State, metro job losses remained widespread in December; compensation inched up

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. An AGC analysis showed construction employment fell from November to December in 36 states plus D.C., rose in only 13 states and held steady in Connecticut. Year-over-year construction employment fell in 35 states, rose in 14 plus D.C., and was unchanged in Vermont. The largest 12-month percentage gains occurred in Oklahoma (9.2%, 6,100 jobs), Texas (5.8 %, 32,300 jobs) and Kansas (4.6%, 2,600 jobs). Texas and Oklahoma had the largest increases in the number of construction employees, followed by Maryland (3,600 employees, 2.5%). The largest percentage drops occurred in Nevada (-19.1%, 13,500 jobs), Idaho (-11.7%, 3,700 jobs) and Kentucky (-10.4%, 7,200 jobs). (BLS reports mining and logging combined with construction in D.C., Maryland and five other states to prevent disclosure of data about industries with few employers.) An AGC analysis today showed that construction employment fell in 232 out of 337 metro areas between December 2009 and December 2010, not seasonally adjusted, rose in 67 and was unchanged in 38. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. lost the most construction jobs (-10,700 jobs, -20%) of any area. Napa, California (-1,000 combined jobs, -36%) lost the highest percentage. Other areas experiencing large declines included the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville division of the greater Chicago metro area (-10,500 jobs, -9%); the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale division (-7,900 jobs, -7%); Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (-5,900 jobs, -10%); and Northern Virginia (-5,700 combined jobs, -9%). Columbus, Ohio, added the most jobs (2,700 combined jobs, 9%). Hanford-Corcoran, Calif., added the highest percentage (22%, 200 combined jobs). Other areas adding a large number of jobs included the Dallas-Plano division (2,100 combined jobs, 2%); Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale (1,900 jobs, 2%); Pittsburgh (1,800 jobs, 4%); and Greeley, Colorado (1,400 combined jobs, 17%). Compensation costs (wages and salaries, plus benefits) for private industry workers increased 2.1% over the year, higher than the 1.2% increase for the previous 12-month period, BLS reported on Friday. BLS pointed out that the 0.9% increase for construction was the lowest of any sector it measured. In 2009, compensation in construction rose only 0.7%. Compensation in construction rose just 0.1%, seasonally adjusted, in the fourth quarter, 0.5% in the third, 0 in the second and 0.4% in the first. Construction wages and salaries slipped 0.1% in the fourth quarter. BLS did not report the change in construction benefits separately. Real (net of inflation) gross domestic product accelerated to a 3.2% seasonally adjusted annual growth rate in the fourth quarter, up from 2.6% in the third and 1.7% in the second, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Friday. Real investment in private nonresidential structures rose 0.8%, the first increase since the second quarter of 2008. Real private residential investment rose 5.8%. Real government investment in structures increased 2.2%. The GDP price index edged up 0.3%. The index for private nonresidential structures rose 3.2%; residential investment, 2.1%; and government structures, 2.4%. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its latest Economic and Budget Outlook on Wednesday, including projections for the Highway Trust Fund. “In Fiscal Year 2011, CBO estimates that outlays from the Highway Account will total $35.6 billion and that outlays from the Transit account will total $7.6 billion. We estimate that revenues and interest will total $31.3 and $5.1 billion, respectively. As a result, we estimate that the end-of-year balances will be $15.4 billion for the Highway Account and $6.9 billion for the Transit Account. We estimate that the Highway Account will end Fiscal Year 2012 with a balance of $4.2 billion suggesting that the Highway Account will likely have some trouble meeting obligations at some point towards the end of that year, depending on cash flows into and out of the fund. We estimate that the Transit Account will have similar problems sometime in Fiscal Year 2013.” CBO estimates that by September 30, 2011, “stimulus” funds totaling $23.6 billion will have been spent on highways, with $3.7 billion remaining, and $6.6 billion on transit projects, with $2.2 billion remaining. The vacancy rate for industrial space fell 10 basis points in the fourth quarter to 10.4%, real-estate research firm Grubb & Ellis reported on Wednesday. “It was the second consecutive quarterly decline of 10 basis points, indicating that the industrial market is recovering, but not quickly. Since peaking in the first quarter at 10.9%, the vacancy rate has fallen by 50 basis points with the lion’s share of that, 30 basis points, coming in the second quarter. Net absorption moved decisively higher to 24.2 million square feet, the strongest quarterly performance in three years but well below the quarterly average of 44.3 million square feet during the vigorous expansion of 2005 through 2007. Construction remained near the cyclical low with just 4.4 million square feet of new space delivered in the fourth quarter and 12.1 million square feet left in the construction pipeline. Build-to-suit projects comprised three-quarters of the deliveries and the space still under construction.”