Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors, pointed to highway construction as a “major contributor” to current spending. “For the past several months, total spending has increased only when there was a rise in year over year highway construction activity,” Simonson said in a press release.

Public non-residential construction spending rose 0.4% since March, and 3.7% year-over-year, while private non-residential spending fell 0.2% for the month and 2.1% for the year. Manufacturing spending experienced the largest decline both monthly and yearly, at a rate of 1.2% and 18.4%, respectively.

“Private nonresidential construction spending fell for the seventh consecutive month and is down nearly 8% from December 2023’s all-time high,” said Basu. “While much of the segment’s recent weakness is attributable to the rapid decline in CHIPS Act-incentivized manufacturing megaprojects, private sector construction momentum has been difficult to find outside of the still-ascendant data center segment.”

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