San Francisco Chronicle - Construction Outlook
May 21, 2010
Construction outlook
Tom Abate
Friday, May 21, 2010
Why are construction jobs so hard to find? And when will things get better?
This chart from Sageworks, a North Carolina firm that distills small business trends from thousands of anonymous financial returns, shows huge drops in payrolls for a variety of construction specialties in 2009, relative to 2008. Assuming the economy improves, Sageworks thinks the sectors with the deepest payroll cuts will start hiring back first. The numbers at the far left are industry codes. Plug the number and "NAICS" into a search engine to find a plain English list of what types of work are included in that specialty.
Industry Change in payroll 2009
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2372: Land subdivision
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-34%
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236115: New single-family housing construction
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-30%
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23814: Masonry contractors
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-25%
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2361: Residential building construction
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-22%
|
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2381: Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors
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-21%
|
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23811: Poured concrete foundation and structure contractors
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-19%
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2379: Other heavy and civil engineering construction
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-16%
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23816: Roofing contractors
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-15%
|
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2382: Building equipment contractors
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-15%
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2389: Other specialty trade contractors
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-15%
|
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2371: Utility system construction
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-11%
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2373: Highway, street and bridge construction
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-11%
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2362: Nonresidential building construction
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-10%
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2383: Building finishing contractors
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3%
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