August 22nd, 2009 
admin 
Let’s rewind for a moment, back to July 2008. We were in the midst of listening to heated presidential campaigns, gearing up for the Michael Phelps show in the Summer Olympics, satisfied with the Dow Jones from one to another 11,000, and not too unhappy with the construction industry unemployment rate of 8.0% (US rate of 5.5%). My how things have changed.
In just twelve months time we have a new president, an Olympian who celebrated a little too hard, a stock market that went to nearly half and then back to 75% causing near heart failure for many, and an unemployment rate that has over doubled for the construction industry.
And it’s not looking that good for improvement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that construction lost another 76,000 jobs in July compared to averages of 73,000 for each of the three previous months. Chief economist for the Associated General Contractors, Ken Simonson said, “I don’t see any good news for construction in these figures”.
I’ll say.
Simonson believes that by the agency of the end of 2009, there will be enough single-family home building and home improvement work to furnish an upturn in that segment. But he soon afterward adds, “I don’t have much hope for nonresidential construction.”
I determine the glass isn’t equable half empty, its dry as a bone.
So what do we do? Sit here with our proverbial thumbs up our proverbial rear ends? Perhaps for now. But very soon we must start innovating and actually getting populate to work again, and that starts with owners proposing projects that banks are willing to finance. What do we have to do to get this going?
I’m hoping its just an overall aversion to risk due to economic fears and uncertainly and when things look like they have steadily improved for more than just a month or two, the “powers that be” will be suitable to less conservative.
But what if they don’t?
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Tags: 2008, Construction Unemployment