Construction was hit harder than most employment sectors during the Great Recession. For a number of years Colorado has had an oversupply of construction workers, relative to other industries. That has significantly lengthened the time of recovery.
Nationally, seasonally adjusted employment peaked in April 2006 at 7,726,000 workers. The number of workers declined with the Great Recession and appears to have bottomed out in January 2011 at 5,456,000. A total of 2,270,000 workers lost their jobs over that 57 month period. Since bottoming out, only 95,000 construction jobs have been added in 14 months.
There was a similar pattern for Colorado, but not as severe. Construction employment peaked in July 2007 at 170,100. It declined with the recession and appears to have bottomed out at 110,400. A total of 59,700 construction jobs were lost over this 47 month period. Since reaching bottom, 6,500 construction jobs have been added in nine months.
To put this in perspective, national tourism employment moved from peak-to-trough-to-peak in 50 months, while it took Colorado tourism employment 44 months to make the same journey. It has taken the Construction sector longer to go from peak-to-trough than it took the tourism industry to lose jobs and regain them.
On April 24, 2012 Aldo Svaldi of the Denver Post reported that the number of homebuilders in the state declined by 80%, a decrease of 2,903 to 616 builders.
Holy Moly Batman!
For additional information on the overall economy go to the cber.co website.
For additional information on the construction industry check out the cber.co report,Colorado’s Construction Industry – Impact Beyond the Hammers and Nails .
©Copyright 2011 by CBER.