The Census Bureau said that construction spending rose 1.2 percent in February, recovering somewhat from the 2.1 percent drop in January. The strongest component of this growth stemmed from the residential sector, with private, residential housing construction up 2.2 percent in February and 20.1 percent year-over-year. This continues a strong rebound in the housing sector, which we see in starts and permits data, as well.

Meanwhile, private, nonresidential construction edged higher by just 0.4 percent in February, only partially improving after the significant 5.9 percent drop in January. The longer-term trend for nonresidential construction, though, reflects steady gains since the beginning of 2011. Since January 2011, the value of private, nonresidential construction has grown from $226.8 billion to $309.6 billion, or an increase of 36.5 percent. (New housing construction in the private sector rose 27.6 percent over the same time period from $237.7 billion to $303.4 billion.)

Manufacturing activity improved slightly in March, up from $51.115 billion to $51.273 billion, or 0.3 percent. The higher value was due to increased construction in the food and beverage, chemical, and fabricated metal products sectors. However, this was counteracted by some declines in the plastics and rubber, nonmetallic mineral, computer and electronic products, and transportation equipment sectors. Similar to the overall nonresidential data, manufacturing construction has moved generally higher over the past two year, up from $29.525 billion in January 2011 or an increase of 73.7 percent. As the attached chart shows, however, this is still below the peak level of $65.022 billion in February 2009.

Beyond manufacturing, other nonresidential business segments with increased construction in February included the following: lodging (up 4.8 percent), health care (up 3.1 percent), educational (up 2.7 percent), and power (up 0.7 percent). Declining levels of construction were seen among communications (down 9.2 percent), transportation (down 2.4 percent), religious (down 1.2 percent), and amusement and recreation (down 1.1 percent) firms. Public construction activity increased 0.9 percent for the month, but it has fallen 1.5 percent year-over-year.

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers.

The Census Bureau said that construction spending increased 0.6 percent in September after falling 0.1 percent in August. The gain came mostly from the residential sector, with strong housing construction numbers helping to boost the overall figure. Private, residential construction rose 2.8 percent for the month and was up 20.9 percent year-over-year. Private nonresidential construction was off 0.1 percent, and public construction spending fell 0.8 percent.  This suggests that outside of housing, the overall construction market remains soft.

For manufacturers, construction spending recovered from its decline in August. The sector spent $47.1 billion in September, up from $45.4 billion in August. This was an increase of 3.8 percent for the month. Still, overall activity has fallen in recent months, even with September’s gain. For instance, it was $49.4 billion as recently as June. Manufacturing construction spending is up 1.3 percent since September 2011, well below the 8.8 percent growth year-over-year for the private, nonresidential sector as a whole.

Outside of manufacturing, the strongest monthly private, nonresidential construction spending gains were found in the communications (up 7.0 percent), transportation (up 5.7 percent), and power (up 1.1. percent) industries. The largest declines were found in the following sectors: health care (down 6.3 percent), religious (down 5.3 percent), commercial (down 3.8 percent), amusement and recreation (down 3.2 percent), and lodging (down 2.2 percent).

Public construction spending was mostly lower, with the biggest monthly decline observed in commercial projects (down 14.4 percent). There were gains in public spending for amusement and recreation (up 7.5 percent), power (up 3.6 percent), and conservation and development (up 3.6 percent) sectors. Overall, public construction is down 4.2 percent over the course of the last year, with the steepest declines in office, commercial, and water supply spending.

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers.

The Census Bureau said that construction spending dropped 0.9 percent in July, its first decline since March. Both residential and nonresidential construction numbers were lower, down 1.6 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Private, nonresidential construction fell 1.6 percent. Despite these decreases, construction activity has been pretty robust over the course of the past year, up 9.3 percent since July 2011, and for manufacturers, it was 17.4 percent higher year-over-year.

Still, manufacturers decreased their construction spending from $49.7 billion in June to $48.7 billion in July (at annual rates), a decline of 2.2 percent. This suggests that recent economic weaknesses have impacted construction investments. Most of the other nonresidential sectors also decreased their spending in July, as well. This includes commercial (down 1.9 percent), power (down 1.4 percent), communications (down 1.2 percent), and health care (down 0.5 percent) construction spending. Bucking this trend was the transportation sector, which saw its construction investments up 2.8 percent in July.

Public construction spending was also lower, down 0.4 percent for the month and down 0.7 percent year-over-year. Among the weakest areas for public construction spending in July were conservation and development (down 2.9 percent), water supply (down 2 percent), amusement and recreation (down 1.9 percent), and sewage and water disposal (down 1.5 percent). Public, nonresidential construction spending was higher, though, for health care (up 2.6 percent), office (up 1.1 percent), public safety (up 1.1 percent), and transportation (up 0.7 percent) projects.

The Census Bureau announced that construction spending rose 0.9 percent in May, building on the 0.6 percent gain in April. It had declined in the first quarter of this year. The residential sector has been the main driver of this growth, as it was up 3 percent at the annual rate in May. Private sector, nonresidential construction rose 0.4 percent.

Manufacturing construction spending continues to grow. In May, it increased 2.8 percent, with manufacturers spending $48.6 billion at the annual rate. This represents a healthy increase from earlier in the year; in January, the level stood at $44.8 billion. On a year-over-year basis, manufacturing construction is up 26.8 percent.

Other nonresidential construction expenditures that were higher in May include commercial (up 1.3 percent) and transportation (up 0.7 percent). These were somewhat offset, though, by declines among religious (down 8.4 percent), educational (down 3.2 percent), and amusement and recreation (down 1.5 percent) organizations.

Public sector construction was down 0.4 percent for the month and down 3.9 percent since last year. Public residential and nonresidential construction declined 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Nonresidential sectors with the largest monthly decreases by governments include office (down 4.9 percent), educational (down 3 percent), water supply (down 2 percent), and sewage and waste disposal (down 1.3 percent). Gains were reported, though, in power (up 8.9 percent), conservation and development (up 8.5 percent), commercial (up 5 percent) and health care (up 4.5 percent).

In short, the manufacturing sector has recently reported a number of weaknesses in activity. Today’s dismal Institute for Supply Management numbers, for instance, found that new orders contracted in June – a negative sign. Yet, at the same time, manufacturers continue to invest in their businesses. Many sentiment surveys, including the most recent NAM/IndustryWeek Survey of Manufacturers, find that they are cautiously optimistic about modest growth in the months ahead. These construction spending figures tend to back that up, with manufacturers increasing their construction dollars by 2.8 percent in May.

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers.

The Census Bureau announced that construction spending rose 0.1 percent in March, revering two months of declines. Private sector construction grew by 0.7 percent for the month, with public sector spending down 1.1 percent.

Manufacturing construction spending increased 1.8 percent, with manufacturers spending $43.7 billion (at the annual rate). While still below the $44.3 billion rate of December 2011, it marks an improvement from January’s drop-off to $42.7 billion. The longer-term trend is also a positive one, as manufacturers put $31.5 billion of construction projects in place in March 2011, a year-over-year gain of 38.6 percent.

Residential and nonresidential construction expenditures were both up 0.7 percent in March. Aside from manufacturing, other nonresidential sectors with growth in March include transportation (up 6.7 percent), office (up 5.4 percent) and lodging (up 5.1 percent). There was declining activity reported with amusement and recreation (down 3.3 percent), religious (down 2.5 percent) and commercial (down 2.2 percent) institutions.

Public sector construction was mixed, with residential spending up 1.4 percent and nonresidential projects down 1.1 percent in March. Nonresidential sectors with the largest monthly decreases in construction activity include water supply (down 4.5 percent), amusement and recreation (down 3.6 percent), sewage and waste disposal (down 3.2 percent) and highway and street (down 2.5 percent). Gains were reported, though, in conservation and development (up 4.1 percent) and health care (up 3.4 percent).

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers.

The Census Bureau announced that construction spending fell 0.1 percent in January, reversing the stronger 1.9 percent and 1.4 percent gains in November and December. Private sector construction was unchanged for the month, but manufacturing construction was down nearly 6 percent.

The drop in manufacturing spending appears to be the result of a surge in activity in December. For the last three months (November to January), manufacturers spent $40.2 billion, $42.9 billion, and $40.4 billion, respectively, on construction projects. Hence, the longer-term trend has been mostly higher, so December’s figure appears to be an outlier. Construction expenditures were $29.2 billion in January 2011, for instance, suggesting an increase of 38.5 percent.

Nonresidential construction overall dropped 1.5 percent. This was led by manufacturing, lodging (down 3.1 percent), religious (down 3 percent), transportation (down 2.1 percent) and power (down 1.8 percent) institutions. Partially offsetting these declines were increases in construction for educational and health care businesses (both up 1.7 power).

Residential construction was up 1.8 percent in January, continuing a positive trend for the year. Since January 2011, residential spending is up 6.7 percent. Public construction was down 0.2 percent, with a year-over-year decline of 0.5 percent. Infrastructure, educational and residential projects experienced the largest declines over the past year.

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers