| May 25, 2010
NEW BUILDING CONTRACTS
Contracts issued in April ’10 for the construction of new buildings in the Houston metropolitan area were valued at $857 million, up 12 percent from April ’09, reports McGraw Hill Construction. Contracts for new nonresidential buildings rose 3 percent to $357 million—the first month with over-the-year growth since July ’09. Contracts for new residential construction increased 20 percent to $501 million.
Residential contracts for January through April’10 were 32 percent above the same period last year. The rise may be due to the first-time home buyers tax credit that expired April 30 and required closing papers to be signed by June 30. Nonresidential contracts fell 24 percent during the first four months of the year.
Data users are cautioned that the McGraw Hill preliminary data are subject to later revisions.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CLAIMS
The number of initial unemployment insurance claims (IC) in the 13-county Gulf Coast Workforce Development Area in April was 16 percent less than in April ’09, Workforce Solutions reports. This represented the fourth consecutive over-the-year drop. However, “there are still local announcements of layoffs in city and county government jobs and in local school districts, so some increase in IC and the number of insured unemployed could occur in the latter half of 2010,” say Joel Wagher of Workforce Solutions.
Continued claims dropped 25 percent from April ’09 to April ’10. However, the significance of the decline in continued claims is less clear than for initial claims because expiring benefits could contribute to the downward movement.
The number of people unemployed 15 weeks or longer in April was 18 percent greater than a year earlier.
NONRESIDENTIAL ELECTRICITY SALES
The amount of electricity sold to nonresidential customers in the CenterPoint service area in April ’10 increased 9.1 percent from April ’09, according to the latest tally by the firm. Nonresidential electricity sales for the first four months of the year were 2.2 percent more than in the same period last year. Nonresidential electricity sales are a rough proxy for industrial production.
Marycruz García
Research Analyst, Economics and Demographics
Research Department
Greater Houston Partnership
1200 Smith, Suite 700
Houston, TX 77002-4400
Phone: 713-844-3654
Fax: 713-844-0254
E-mail: mgarcia@houston.org
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