1

TABLE 2.-Estimated construction employment in the United States, by months, January 1946-January 1947

1 Estimates include wage earners, salaried employees, and special trades contractors actively engaged on new construction, additions and alterations, and on repair work of the
type usually covered by building permits, whether performed under contract or by force-account. (Force-account employees are workers hired directly by the owner and utilized as
a separate work force to perform construction work of the type usually chargeable to capital account.) These figures should not be confused with those included in the Bureau's
nonagricultural employment series, which covers only employees of construction contractors and Federal force-account workers, and excludes force-account workers of State and local
governments, public utilities, and private firms.
2 Revised.
3 Preliminary.

19,000.

Includes the following force-account employees hired directly by the Federal Government: December 1945, 18,200; October 1946, 21,100; November 1946, 20,000; December 1946,
Includes airports, water supply and sewage disposal systems, electrification projects, community buildings, and miscellaneous public service enterprises.

Expenditures for new construction, which amounted to 847 million dollars in January, are also expected to reach peak (1.7 billion dollars) in September. For the entire year 1947, they will probably total close to 151⁄2 billion dollars-the greatest dollar volume for any 12month period in the country's history. This does not mean, however, that the physical volume of construction will also reach an unprecedented high in 1947, since it will take more dollars than in former years to pay for the necessary lumber, brick, wages, blueprints, etc. The marked decline in the purchasing power of the construction dollar is reflected in the fact that the same amount of work estimated to cost 15.4 billion dollars in 1947 could have been done in 1939 for approximately 9.3 billion dollars.

It is anticpiated that 1947 expenditures will be 15 percent above the dollar volume in 1942-the previous peak year, when the war construction program was at its height. However, if expenditures in both years were to be deflated to the 1939 level of construction prices, the 1947 program would be 10 percent below that carried out in 1942.

The 1947 expenditures for new construction will be more than 50 percent above the 1946 figure. Almost all categories of construction will share in the gain, but nonfarm home building will claim the greatest number of dollars in the coming year-6 billion dollars. Nonresidential building, at 5 billion dollars, will be a close second. Each of these categories totaled 3% billion dollars last year. Highway construction is expected to advance from 829 million dollars in 1946 to 1.5 billion dollars, and public utilities construction from 851 million to 1.3 billion dollars.

TABLE 3.-Distribution of estimated on-site employment on new construction, by type of construction, selected months, 1946-47

Mainly river, harbor, flood control, reclamation, and power projects.

Private funds used for new construction this year will amount to 11.7 billion dollars and public expenditures are expected to total 3.7 billion dollars. Comparable figures for last year were 7.9 billion and 2.3 billion dollars.

All figures on the outlook for construction activity in 1947 are based on the supposition that an improved flow of materials will result in more efficient building operations, including the better utilization of labor. Thus, any further rises in material prices or wage rates will be offset to a large degree, keeping construction costs on the whole at about current levels. It is also assumed that nonresidential building construction will be allowed to increase substantially, and that no major business recession or important work stoppages affecting construction will occur in 1947.

1

TABLE 5.-Estimated expenditures 1 for new construction, 1946 and 1947

1 Expenditures for floating dry docks and for facilities to produce atomic bombs are excluded.

Urban Building

In December 1946, permit valuations of urban building construction (including the value of Federal construction contracts awarded) amounted to 226 million dollars-one-fifth less than the November total. Almost all of the 42-million-dollar drop during the month occurred in home construction, which fell from 150 million to 109 million dollars. The 75 million dollars estimated for nonresidential building was only slightly under the preceding month's figure, and

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additions, alterations, and repair work, at 42 million dollars, was practically unchanged.

Only 2 percent of the urban building valuations in December 1946 were made up of Federal contract awards (nonresidential building claiming the major portion), compared with 15 percent last August when the Federal Mead-Lanham temporary housing program was at its height.

Urban building permit valuations for 1946 were more than double the total for 1945. In fact, the cumulative total of 4.7 billion dollars for the calendar year 1946 was the highest for any 12-month period since the twenties. However, while non-Federal (private and State and local government) work rose from 1.9 billion dollars in 1945 to 4.3 billion dollars, Federal building, at 381 million dollars, was only a little above the 250 million dollars reported in 1945.

TABLE 6.-Permit valuation of urban building construction,2 by class of construction and by source of funds, selected months, 1945-46, and years 1945-46

1 Includes value of Federal construction contracts awarded. Estimates of non-Federal (private, and State and local government) urban building construction are based upon building-permit reports received from places containing about 85 percent of the urban population of the country; estimates of federally financed projects are compiled from notifications of construction contracts awarded, which are obtained from other Federal agencies.

3 Preliminary.

4 Revised.

Includes value of dormitories and other nonhousekeeping residential buildings in addition to housekeeping units. Includes $45,188,850, the estimated cost of 8,027 dwelling units contained in the New York City Housing Authority projects.

Less than $500,000,