A national contractors group is calling for tax breaks, federal investments in highway and water projects and other measures to pull the construction industry from a "depression," boost the overall economy and stem the past year's loss of construction jobs throughout the United States, including in Maryland.
The Associated General Contractors of America unveiled a plan Wednesday designed to revive the construction industry and reverse expectations that construction will struggle through the next year.
"While the nation continues to suffer through a recession, the construction industry is experiencing a depression," said Stephen E. Sandherr, the group's chief executive officer. "Simply put, you can't fix our economy until you fix the construction industry."
An association analysis released Wednesday showed most metro areas in the U.S. lost construction jobs between August 2008 and August 2009, when the industry lost more than one million jobs overall. Nationally, construction unemployment has hit 16.5 percent, nearly twice the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent.
The trade group said it expects investments in construction this year to drop by as much as $193 billion from last year, an 18 percent decline.
Maryland had 16 percent fewer construction jobs in that period, with losses of 19 percent in the Calvert-Charles-Prince George's metro area and 12 percent in the Baltimore-Towson area, according to the statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The hardest hit areas were Reno-Sparks, Nev., with a 35 percent decline in construction jobs, Duluth, Minn., with a 33 percent drop and Tucson, Ariz., with a 31 percent drop.
All but 13 of the nation's 336 largest cities or metro areas saw declines, with the Baltimore-Towson area near the middle at No. 162.
The group's plan aims to stimulate new private-sector construction, which accounts for 60 percent to 70 percent of the market. It calls for Congress to repeal the alternative minimum tax and increase and extend a series of tax credits and cuts that the group says would boost investment in real estate development. It argues in favor of extending the federal $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit that is set to expire next month.
And it calls for increased federal investments in highway, transit, aviation and rail programs as well as in maintenance of federal buildings and flood control projects.
