Non-residential construction starts increased 18 percent from February to March in the U.S., according to a new report (see below) from construction data provider CMD. March’s new construction total, $28.5 billion, was 1.6 percent higher than March 2015.
Year-to-date starts have increased 9.8 percent compared to January-to-March in 2015. In addition, year-over-year employment in construction in March increased 4.7 percent, two-and-a-half times as fast for all jobs in the economy.
Among the major type-of-structure categories, commercial and heavy engineering increased 11.3 and 20.7 percent respectively, and institutional starts increased by 27.2 percent. Comparing March 2016 to March 2015, institutional starts have seen the biggest increase, by 37 percent.
Additionally, the jobless rate in construction in March was 8.7 percent, decreasing from 9.5 percent in March of 2015.
