Commercial construction picks up the slack from residential downturn
While residential construction fell two percent last year, private commercial construction went up 16 percent and public construction 10 percent, according to the US Census Bureau. The Christian Science Monitor’s Ron Scherer reports that new hotel construction was up 52 percent over 2005, factory construction 20 percent and office building rose 18 percent. Commercial construction has even absorbed many residential construction workers. Last month, 80,000 jobs were lost in residential construction while commercial contractors hired 180,000 workers.
