« For Construction Safety Week, Department of Buildings leads visit to Atlantic Yards arena site; videos show perspective on construction | Main | Avella to donate campaign funds to offset Lipsky cash »
April 28, 2011
Construction Spending Hits A 5-Year Low
The Wall Street Journal
by Joseph De Avila
Construction spending in New York City dropped 12% last year, falling to its lowest level since 2005, according to a new report.
Builders cut back on residential housing and office buildings even as the city's economy slowly began adding jobs again. Part of the drop last year was due to big projects like the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field wrapping up in 2009.
The number of construction workers also fell by 8,900 to 111,800 in 2010. It's the fewest construction workers employed in the city since 2004.
...It would have been even worse if not for a few large projects, including the World Trade Center and the new basketball arena at the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn.
NoLandGrab: Yes, without Atlantic Yards, there would have been only 111,640 construction workers employed in 2010, rather than 111,800. Thank goodness we taxpayers have shoveled hundreds of millions of dollars into that project.
Related coverage...
WNYC Radio, Spending Slump Hurts NYC Construction Workers
Posted by eric at April 28, 2011 9:36 AM