The latest research from the Institute of Social and Economic Research predicts a sunny outlook for construction spending in 2012 in Alaska:
- The total value of construction spending “on the street” in Alaska in 2012 will be $7.7 billion, up 3% from 2011.
- Wage and salary employment in the construction industry will be stable at the same level as last year—15,800. This is down from a peak of 18,300 in 2005.
- Excluding the oil and gas sector—which accounts for 41% of the total—construction spending will be $4.6 billion, up 4% from 2011 and about the same rate of increase as last year.
- Oil and gas spending will be $3.2 billion, 1% higher than in 2011.
The report spotlights how important construction is to the economy: "Annual wage and salary employment in the construction industry in 2011 was about 16,000 workers, with average annual payroll of $70 thousand per worker, second only to mining (including petroleum). But that figure doesn’t include the “hidden” construction workers employed in other industries like oil and gas, mining, utilities, and government (force account workers). In addition, it does not account for the large number of self-employed construction workers—estimated to be about 9,000 in 2011."
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