Construction employment increased in 120 out of 337 metropolitan areas between May 2010 and May 2011, declined in 162 and stayed level in 55, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released Tuesday by AGC.

Contractors keep getting sideswiped by rising materials prices. Early this year, diesel, steel and copper prices all soared. Recently, plastics, asphalt and gypsum costs have jumped. Meanwhile, contractors have largely held the line on bid prices. What will be next to climb? What might back down? On August 3, 2011, join AGC’s Chief Economist Ken Simonson, John Cross of the American Institute of Steel Construction, and Jason Schenkler of Prestige Economics, LLC, to  find out where they think prices are headed, what to watch for, and why.

Seasonally adjusted new construction starts in May dropped 6% from April’s level, McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC) reported on Thursday, based on data it collected.

Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment increased in 22 states from April to May, decreased in 27 states and the District of Columbia, and was unchanged in Idaho, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday.

Although materials costs continued to accelerate in May, they may be about to hit the brakes. That’s what futures markets and price reporting services are signaling, anyway.

Contractors suffered from a new round of price increases for key materials in May but were largely unable to pass their costs along to customers, according to an analysis of producer price index figures released Tuesday by AGC.

“Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve districts indicated that economic activity generally continued to expand since the last report, though a few districts indicated some deceleration,” the Fed reported on Wednesday in the latest Beige Book, a summary of informal soundings of businesses in the districts, which are referred to by their headquarters cities.

In May, seasonally adjusted “nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+54,000), following increases that averaged 220,000 in the prior 3 months,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday.

Construction spending inched up for the second straight month in April, 0.4 percent– following downward revisions to the March spending figures – thanks to increases in private nonresidential and home-improvement spending, AGC reported Wednesday in an analysis of new Census Bureau data. 

After a five-year slide in construction spending, it is tempting to believe that the industry will be “back to normal” sometime in the next five years. But it’s more likely some segments will never match their  peaks of the last decade, whereas other categories will far exceed past levels.