Construction Jobs Stable
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| Amanda Tetlak |
| 11/18/2009 |
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| A mild November still allows us to hear the sounds of jackhammers, and weave through orange cones. And while it may seem a little annoying, it`s understood that work is good for our economy. A survey by the transportation construction coalition shows almost 80-percent of road and transit builders expect the construction market to decline next year despite federal stimulus. But the forecast is much brighter for North Dakota. It was a busy construction season in North Dakota, and Russ Hanson with Associated General Contractors of North Dakota expects next year to be just as noisy, mainly because the state`s strong economy allowed us to put federal stimulus money to its intended use. "In the public sector we are truly able to use stimulus money for stimulus," says Hanson. "A lot of other states had budget reductions. In a lot of cases their federal stimulus money was used for stop gap measures." Hanson just got back from a national meeting where he learned that fortunately for us, North Dakota is in a very different position than the rest of the country, one of only two states with an increase in state construction employment this year. "Nationally, the unemployment rate for construction is 18.7-percent, so it`s almost double of what the regular unemployment rate is," says Hanson. "We`re not seeing that here. We have just over 20,000 construction employees in North Dakota and that number is remaining stable." In Burleigh County, next year`s forecast is also looking good with three new projects already on the agenda in addition to regular maintenance and catch up from last Spring`s flooding. And those projects are creating jobs. "We have about 30 employees out there now, that includes administrative," says Burleigh County Commissioner Doug Schonert. "I think it`s 22 of them who are basically operators and we`re going to hire two more so that will be 24 and during the summer we have anywhere from eight to 10 temporary people." But Hanson says while we`re sitting pretty right now, things can always change in a state dependent on fluctuating ag and energy industries. Hanson says another thing he`s watching is the multi-year transportation bill that expired at the end of September. He says our rural state heavily depends on federal funding for our highways and while the bill has been extended, there`s no telling how the new version will come out since the federal highway trust fund is broke. |
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