Construction spending increased by 1.4 percent between July and August and was up 0.9 percent compared to August 2010, the Associated General Contractors of America reports. “There is no doubt that declining public sector demand for construction is dragging down the entire construction industry,” association CEO Stephen Sandherr said. “If it wasn’t for the modest increase in private sector demand, the hard hit construction industry would be in much worse shape this year.”
Private sector construction spending increased by 0.4 percent between July and August from $508.9 billion to $511.0 billion, and is up 5.6 percent compared to last year. Meanwhile, public construction spending went from $279.4 billion in July to an annual rate of $288.2 billion in August, a 3.1 percent increase, but remains down by 6.3 percent compared to last year.
Spending on power construction experienced the largest private sector increase (25.9 percent), while spending on lodging declined by more than any other sector of private construction (31.7 percent). In contrast, publicly funded health care construction activity grew by 12.8 percent while investments in the two largest public segments—highway and street and educational construction—fell 4.5 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.
