February Non-Res Construction Down 22% From January, Up 3.7% YTD

The drop was considerably larger than the -2.5 percent average decline from January to February, while year-to-date, starts are still ahead of 2015.

Constructiion Market Data (CMD) recently announced that Februaryโ€™s level of U.S. construction starts, excluding residential work, was $19.1 billion, a large drop of 22.2 percent versus January. The long-term average decline in starts from January to February, due to inclement winter weather, has been -2.5 percent.

It should be noted, though, that January starts of this year compared with December of last year were +7.1 percent. There is a usual contraction between those two months, due to seasonality, of -8.5 percent. It would seem that, this year, Januaryโ€™s normal seasonal pullback was delayed until February.   

Compared with February of 2015, the latest monthโ€™s starts level was a less severe -5.1 percent. Compared with average non-residential starts in February over the past five years, 2011 to 2015 inclusive, the decline was -8.5 percent. Year-to-date starts, though, are a more buoyant +3.7 percent.

The starts figures throughout this report are not seasonally adjusted (NSA). Nor are they altered for inflation. They are expressed in what are termed โ€˜currentโ€™ as opposed to โ€˜constantโ€™ dollars.  

The latest Employment Situation Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records a 19,000 gain (seasonally adjusted) in the total number of construction jobs in February. This was a slight improvement from 15,000 in January. The average monthly uptick this year (+17,000), however, has fallen short of the performance in the first two months of last year (+39,000).

Year-over-year employment in construction in February rose at a rate, +4.0 percent, that was more than double what was recorded for all jobs, +1.9 percent. The sector also compared favorably with manufacturing (+0.1 percent), government (+0.3 percent), retail (+2.2 percent), leisure and hospitality (+3.0 percent), professional and business services (+3.1 percent) and education and health (+3.2 percent). The jobless rate in construction in February was 8.7 percent, down from 10.6 percent a year ago and 12.8 percent two years prior.

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