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TwitterNebraska and Iowa’s building companies don’t expect the construction market to grow this year, new survey results show, and instead see a comeback in 2011 — or later.
A survey released Wednesday by the Associated General Contractors of America indicated that none of the respondents from Nebraska and just 6 percent in Iowa forecast a rebound in 2010. In all, 70 contractors from the two states participated in the survey.
The outlook was only slightly more positive nationally — 12 percent expected recovery this year.
“The construction industry is in for another difficult year in 2010,” said Stephen Sandherr, the group’s chief executive officer.
He said the “depression-like” conditions in the construction industry will continue to be a drag on overall employment figures and the nation’s economic recovery.
Sandherr urged Congress to approve a second round of stimulus spending, which he said could improve economic activity.
Nationally, the unemployment rate among construction workers has jumped to 22 percent, according to the organization, and Nebraska and Iowa are among the states that have seen job losses.
According to the survey, 81 percent of respondents in Nebraska and 59 percent in Iowa had layoffs in 2009.
For 2010, however, no Nebraska companies anticipated layoffs, while 24 percent of Iowa respondents planned to lay off workers.
Kristine Young, the trade group’s vice president and president of Des Moines firm Miller the Driller, said the market for new buildings in Iowa has been more depressed than the market for roads and sewers.
Earlier this week, the 12-member Nebraska Business Forecast Council predicted that housing and road construction in Nebraska would rebound some, but that commercial construction would continue to lag.
In Nebraska, contractors gave highway construction one of the more positive outlooks in the new survey — just 17 percent thought road spending would drop for 2010. For every other sector — including retail, industry and energy — at least half the respondents thought construction spending would decline
Contact the writer: 444-1128, jeff.robb@owh.com
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