"Today's report on job losses underscores the urgency of implementing a job-boosting economic stimulus package focused on infrastructure," said Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America. Simonson commented on the January employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"It is tragic that 3,500,000 jobs have disappeared in the past 12 months and the unemployment rate has climbed to 8.5 percent before seasonal adjustment, or 7.6 percent, seasonally adjusted," Simonson stated. "Construction workers have suffered far more than their share of that pain, accounting for 747,000 - or more than one-fifth - of the job cuts and an unemployment rate of 18.2 percent in January, not seasonally adjusted."
Simonson pointed out that the job destruction is no longer confined to homebuilding. "In the past 12 months, nonresidential builders and specialty trade contractors, along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms, have had to lay off 309,000 workers, or nearly 7 percent of their workforce. Many of these workers would be re-employed within weeks if Congress passes a stimulus bill with at least $150 billion of construction spending."
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