The ‘Great Recession’ theoretically lasted around 18 months, from 2007 to 2009. The recovery has been painfully slow in many industries, but now we are in 2015 and the construction industry is more quickly ignoring the residual effects of the recession.

How bad was it?

Although the construction industry is cyclical and a recession generally follows a boom period, nothing could have prepared it for the severe and widespread reach of the recession:

• Residential: Homeowners defaulted on their home payments and others delayed home purchases, causing a glut of residential real estate to languish in real estate agents’ inventory.
• Commercial: Commercial construction was also hit hard, severely affected by the federal budget sequestration and eventual but temporary shutdown, followed by reduced public spending and drastically reduced lending practices.
• Institutional: Institutional construction remained stagnant, affected by the same limitations and financing problems that the commercial construction sector faced.

How were construction workers affected?

Nevada, California, Florida, and Arizona are often areas with a lot of construction work. But the recession changed that:

• Nevada employed some 146,000 construction workers at the peak of its construction boom. That number dropped by 59 percent.
• Arizona construction employment fell 50 percent from its peak in the industry before the recession.
• Florida was close on the heels of industry-related unemployment from Nevada and Arizona, losing 40 percent of its workforce to construction.
• California fared better, but still posted a 28 percent drop.
• According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), approximately 2.3 million construction workers lost their jobs in the recession (nearly 30 percent of the total number of jobs lost).
• The construction industry in general has a My dear 1.4 million fewer construction workers in 2015 than in 2007.

Construction prospects in 2015 and beyond

Fortunately, the US and its construction industry continue to pull away from the harshest effects of the Great Recession. Industry watchers expect to see these improvements:

• Nonresidential Construction: Picking up and looking stronger, especially with real GDP growth expected to be 2.6 percent in 2015. This sector may grow 8 percent with growth in office buildings, hotels, and industrial facilities.
• Single Family Home: An 11 percent increase in the number of residential units is expected, thanks to easier access to home mortgage loans.
• Construction of manufacturing plants: Will probably fall 16 percent after the big increases in 2013 and 2014.
• Institutional construction: it is expected to continue its moderate upward trend and increase 9% over the results of 2014.
• Residential Construction – Called the potential ‘wild card’ of 2015 due to rising interest rates. Existing home sales can go up as much as 10 percent.
• Public Construction: Growth will remain low due to current federal spending restrictions. However, transportation spending is expected to grow by around 2.2 percent.

Ironically, construction workers may not be rushing back to their new jobs. Many left the industry entirely, retraining for other employment.

Texas and North Dakota show significant increases in construction employment. North Dakota now needs to hire construction workers. Texas construction employment rose 10 percent, nearing its pre-recession peak.

Economists do not expect the construction industry to return to its peak (2006) until 2022 or later. However, the BLS anticipates that the fastest growing jobs now and in 2022 will be in health care. and construction.

So while the Great Recession did considerable damage to the overall economy, individual income, and morale, 2015 and beyond is looking considerably brighter in the commercial construction industry.