Page 84 • October 26, 2011 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT GUIDE
Kenneth
Simonson
September Jobs, August Spending Rise for Construction; Year-Over-Year Gains Are Slim
Hirschmann Mobile Machine Control Solutions has installed seven systems on L140 HiReach platforms and one on an L115 HiReach for Elliott Equipment Company.
Hirschmann Offers Compact LMI Solution for Elliott’s AWPs North America’s leading manufacturer of truckmounted cranes and aerial work platforms (AWP), Elliott Equipment Company, has contracted Hirschmann Mobile Machine Control Solutions to install eight graphic consoles with integrated LMI controls (iVISOR mentor QVGA) on two different AWP models. Designed for mobile cranes, the Hirschmann compact solution provides Designed for mobile cranes, the Hirschmann compact a graphical display of the solution provides a graphical display of the crane, its load and geometry. crane, its load and geometry. Presenting the actual and allowable load, boom length, boom They can be used in a variety of industries, angle, and load radius, the display also but mainly target signage and electrical includes an integrated bar graph that informs goods companies and utilities. Aerial platforms and sign cranes have been Elliott’s the operator about the crane’s utilization. Seven systems have been installed on main market for several decades. The Elliott Equipment Company project L140 HiReach platforms and one on an illustrates how Hirschmann is finding its L115 HiReach. Hirschmann’s iSENS HESW1 wireless anti-two block (A2B) switch, way into a growing variety of mobile appliwhich is designed for quick and easy instal- cations meeting a wide range of customer lation without costly and time-consuming needs. (This story also can be found on cabling, also will be installed. The L115 Construction Equipment Guide’s Web site at HiReach and the L140 HiReach have boom lengths between 102 and 125 ft. (31 and 38 www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) m) and can lift up to 14,000 lbs (6,350 kg). CEG
Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment increased by 103,000 (0.1 percent) in Sept. and 1.5 million (1.1 percent) over 12 months, while the unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent (8.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Oct. 14. Seasonally adjusted construction employment rose by 26,000 (0.5 percent) to 5.5 million, the highest level since April 2010 but up only 37,000 (0.7 percent) from a year ago. The unemployment rate for former construction workers fell to 13.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted, from 17.2 percent in August 2010. (BLS does not report seasonally adjusted rates by industry.) The fact that unemployment fell sharply despite a very small increase in employment suggests that workers are leaving the industry to take work elsewhere, return to school or training, or drop out of the labor force — all ominous indicators for future recruitment. Among the five BLS construction employment categories, nonresidential building posted the strongest monthly and year-over-year results: gains of 2.0 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. Heavy and civil engineering construction employment rose 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent; nonresidential specialty trade contractors, 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent; residential building, 0.3 percent and minus 1.3 percent; and residential specialty trades, minus 0.4 percent and minus 0.3 percent. Architectural and engineering services employment, a harbinger of future demand for construction, rose 0.2 percent and 2.4 percent. Construction spending in Aug. totaled $799 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up 1.4 percent from July and 0.9 percent from Aug. 2010, the Census Bureau reported on Oct. 3. Private nonresidential construction climbed 0.2 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively; private residential construction, 0.7 percent and 3.9 percent; and public construction, 3.1 percent and minus 6.3 percent. In descending order of current size, the largest private nonresidential segments were power (power plants, renewable facilities, transmission lines, oil and gas field structures and pipelines), up 2.9 percent and 26 percent; commercial (retail, warehouse and farm), minus 2.6 percent and 9.0 percent; manufacturing (including data centers), 1.8 percent and 3.2 percent; and office, 0.1 percent and 3.0 percent. Residential improvements slipped 0.3 percent from July’s total (which was revised sharply downward) but edged up 0.9 percent from Aug. 2010; new singlefamily construction rose 0.8 percent for the month but fell 3.5 percent year-over-year; and new multifamily moved up 0.8 percent and 13 percent. Of the two dominant public categories, highway and street construction jumped 3.5 percent in August but fell 4.0 percent year-over-year and educational rose 4.3 percent and dropped 4.5 percent, respectively. Construction employment increased between Aug. 2010 and Aug. 2011 in 146 out of 337 metropolitan areas (including divisions of larger areas) for which BLS provides data, an AGC analysis released Sept. 26 showed. Another 145 areas had declines and 46 had no change. (BLS combines mining and logging with construction in many areas to avoid disclosing data about industries with few employers; data are not sea-
sonally adjusted.) The equal split between gains and losses has been present for several months and reflects near-static national construction employment. The largest 12-month percentage gains were in the Lake County, Illinois-Kenosha County, Wisconsin division of the Chicago metro area (22 percent, 2,900 construction jobs); the Haverhill-North AndoverAmesbury, Massachusetts-New Hampshire division of the Boston area (19 percent, 700 combined jobs); Casper, Wyoming (18 percent, 500 construction jobs); and the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn division (18 percent, 3,400 jobs). Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown had the largest number of job gains: 10,400 construction jobs (6 percent). The largest percentage losses were in Redding, California (19 percent, minus 600 combined jobs); Wilmington, North Carolina (minus 17 percent, minus 1,600 combined jobs); Montgomery, Alabama (minus 16 percent, minus 1,100 combined jobs); and Panama City-Lynn Haven-Panama City Beach, Florida (minus 16 percent, minus 800 combined jobs). The largest number of job losses occurred in the Los AngelesLong Beach-Glendale division: minus 7,000 construction jobs (minus 7 percent). The number of local housing markets on a new “improving markets index” (IMI) introduced in Sept. by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) nearly doubled from 12 that month to 23 in the Oct. 6 release (www.nahb.org/imi). “‘Both the number and geographic diversity of improving housing markets expanded this month, with Iowa, Illinois and South Carolina all newly represented by one entry or more on the list,’ said [Chairman Bob Nielsen]. ‘While Pittsburgh and New Orleans remain the two largest improving markets, the Oct. IMI is heavily weighted by smaller cities in which energy and agriculture are the primary economic drivers and where the effects of the recession have been less pronounced,’ said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. ‘In particular, Texas stands out for its seven entries on the improving markets list.’ Bangor, Maine, was the only area to drop off of the improving markets list in Oct., due to a decline in local building permits. The IMI is designed to track housing markets throughout the country that are showing signs of improving economic health. The index measures three sets of independent monthly data to get a mark on the top improving [metro areas:] employment growth from [BLS], house price appreciation from Freddie Mac, and single-family housing permit growth from the U.S. Census Bureau. NAHB uses the latest available data from these sources to generate a list of improving markets. A metro area must see improvement in all three areas for at least six months following their respective troughs before being included on the improving markets list.” The first year of union wage and benefit settlements so far this year averaged $0.79 (1.6 percent), compared with $0.64 (1.3 percent) a year ago and $1.29 (2.7 percent) two years ago, the Construction Labor Research Council (www.clrcdata.org) reported last month. About 31 percent of settlements were for 1.0 to 1.9 percent increases; 18 percent each were for no increase or 3.0 percent or higher. © Kenneth D. Simonson is chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America.