Construction spending (not adjusted for inflation) totaled $2.15 trillion in November at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, unchanged from the downwardly revised October rate and up 3.0% year-over-year (y/y), the Census Bureau reported on Thursday. The y/y growth rate has slowed steadily since January’s 9.8% rate and was the slowest since May 2019. Private nonresidential spending was flat for the month and up 1.7% y/y. The largest subsegment, manufacturing, slipped 0.2% from October but rose 11% y/y; power construction rose 0.2% and 4.8%, respectively; commercial remained flat for the month but declined 8.0% y/y (comprising warehouse, up 0.4% and down 13%, respectively; retail, down 0.6% and 9.3%; and farm, up 1.0% and 11%); and office down 0.3% and up 0.1% (comprising data centers, up 2.7% and 43%, and other “offices,” down for the 12th month in a row, by 1.8% and 17%). Private residential spending edged up 0.1% for the month and 3.1% y/y (single-family, up 0.3% since October but down 0.7% y/y; multifamily, down 1.3% and 9.5%, respectively; and improvements, up 0.4% and 13%). Public construction dipped 0.1% from October but increased 4.6% y/y, with highway and street spending up 0.2% for month but down 3.5% y/y; educational, down 0.2% for the month but up 3.0% y/y; and transportation, down 0.5% for the month but up 6.6% y/y.

Construction employment, not seasonally adjusted, rose y/y from November 2023 to November 2024 in 234 (65%) of the 358 metro areas (including divisions of larger metros) for which BLS posts construction employment data, fell in 63 (18%), and was unchanged in 61, according to an analysis AGC released on Monday. (For most metros, BLS posts only combined totals for mining, logging, and construction; AGC treats these totals as construction-only.) The largest job gains again occurred in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (16,100 construction jobs, 7%) and Northern Virginia (9,000 combined jobs, 11%), followed by the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metro division (6,100 construction jobs, 10%); Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (4,800 construction jobs, 5%); and the Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas division (4,200 combined jobs, 5%). Anchorage, Alaska had the largest percentage gain (17%, 1,800 construction jobs), followed by Fairbanks, Alaska (15%, 400 construction jobs); the Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia division (15%, 3,800 combined jobs); Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii (13%, 600 combined jobs); and Northern Virginia. The largest construction job losses again occurred in New York City (-7,800 combined jobs, -5%), followed by Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade (-4,700 construction jobs, -6%) and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash. (-4,200 construction jobs, -5%). The largest percentage decrease occurred in Bloomington, Ill. (-11%, -400 combined jobs), followed by Bangor, Maine (-8%, -300 construction jobs.