The construction industry continues to suffer from significant declines in privately-funded construction investments, with new federal figures showing private construction investments declined by 20.6% between Sept 08 and Sept 09. The new Census Bureau figures show there’s no sign of an economic recovery yet for the nation’s construction industry.These figures show just how dire business conditions are for the nation’s contractors and their 6 million plus employees says the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).

The federal figures show the annualized rate of private construction spending declined from $774 billion (B) a year in Sept 08 to $614 B a year in Sept 09. On the nonresidential side alone, construction spending for lodging declined by 37.4%, 33.3% for offices, and 36% for commercial structures over the past 12 months. Manufacturing and power construction were the only parts of the private construction market to see increased investments, with 11% and 4.8% gains respectively.

Publicly funded investments in construction did increase over the past year by 6.1%, from $308 B to $326 B. Public spending on commercial facilities and power structures grew the most, with 28.8% and 27.2% increases, respectively, over the past year. However, water supply and sewage investments actually declined by 1.9 and 1.8% respectively.

The AGC is calling for a quick extension of the first-time home buyers tax credit and expansion of the carry back of net operating loss provision from two to five years for all businesses for 08, ‘09 and ‘10 as a way to stimulate new private demand for construction.

The AGC is urging Congress and the Administration to support the 30 measures outlined in the association’s construction industry recovery plan, which was designed to revive the private construction market while improving public investments in the nation’s aging infrastructure.

Visit AGC for more information.