U.S. construction employment grew in only four out of 337 metropolitan areas in 2009 as spending on construction projects dropped by $100 billion in December, to a six-year low of $903 billion, according to a report from the Associated General Contractors of America.

“The impact of the stimulus is clearly being overshadowed by the sweeping downturn in overall construction demand,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist.

“Without those public investments however, a bad employment situation will only get worse during 2010.”

Simonson noted new Census Bureau figures released today show that private non-residential spending dropped 18% compared to December 2008.

He added that only power construction increased from year-ago levels, by 14 per cent.

Developer-financed categories recorded especially large declines, including lodging (down 46%); retail, warehouse and farm (down 37%); and office (down 35%).

In contrast, publicly-funded construction increased by 1.0% between December 2008 and 2009, Simonson noted.

He added that stimulus spending helped boost highway and street construction by 3.7%, making it the largest public category.

Educational construction, however, dropped 4.0% during the year.

Private residential construction dropped 11% for the year as multi-family construction tumbled, even though spending on single family housing has increased for seven months in a row.

Source: http://dcnonl.com/article/id37359/