Monday, January 21, 2013

What's wrong with this picture

The chart shows the average number of employed construction workers divided by the number of housing completions, through 2009, and completions plus starts thereafter. Before the readers put their collective heads together and guess why the ratio has doubled over the life of the precipitous descent in the construction trade, they should take into account that the number of employed is from all sectors - residential, commercial and infrastructure.

It could mean simply that activity in the others has dropped even more than the nearly-disappeared residential sector. Other, more serious, suggestions welcomed in the comment box.

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3 comments:

Christian said...

Are these FTEs or the actual number of construction worker laying a hand on the job?

Could it be due to a more prevalent use of part-time/non-contract workers involved?

2:46 PM
Christian said...

...or higher turn-over among the lowest-bidder contractors (resulting in higher turn-over in crews)?

2:59 PM
Charles Butler said...

Good points. Will look into it.

3:55 PM

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