Weather in May affecting Construction

Maybe it was the rain after all. A month after construction job losses were blamed on the weather, Minnesota construction employment bounced back in May, with the sector adding 2,200 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The state as a whole added just 1,200 jobs in May, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) reported Thursday.

Despite the gain, the state’s unemployment rate crept up a tenth of a percentage point, to 6.6 percent — still much better than the U.S. rate of 9.1 percent. DEED said the rate went up because more people are actively looking for work.

On top of the May jobs gains, DEED reported that April’s job losses were not as bad as previously reported. Minnesota lost 2,600 jobs in April, instead of the 5,200 originally reported.

“The private sector in Minnesota has shown steady improvement, adding 7,300 jobs in the past two months,” DEED Commissioner Mark Phillips said in a news release. “Initial claims for unemployment benefits continue to drop, and the Help Wanted OnLine count of advertised job vacancies in Minnesota jumped 14,000 in May, the third-biggest increase among all states.”

Construction led all sectors in May in jobs growth here. Construction has added jobs in three of the last four months, with April appearing to be a weather-related hiccup. Still, the sector has lost an overall 6,700 jobs since May 2010, even as construction jobs nationwide are up slightly in the same period.

The Associated General Contractors of Minnesota plans to conduct a study on why the state construction industry appears to be lagging behind the nation on jobs, said David Semerad, the group’s chief executive officer. Semerad guesses that an unusually harsh winter set building projects back. Political gridlock over the state budget is also sending a bad message to developers who might otherwise want to build in the state, he said.

Gov. Mark Dayton, a DFLer, and the Republican-dominated Legislature are engaging in a budget standoff over how to close a two-year, $5 billion deficit. Many state government services, including transportation construction projects, will likely shut down at the end of the month if a deal isn’t reached. The budget fight is placing thousands of transportation-related construction jobs in danger, Semerad said.


Read more: http://finance-commerce.com/2011/06/minnesota-adds-2200-construction-jobs-as-unemployment-rate-rises/#ixzz2V5twWEv3