Building rate remains steady
The value of new U.S. construction starts in October was valued at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of $668.5 billion, unchanged from September.

That's according to a Nov. 29 report by McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

In addition, a Dec. 1 report by Associated General Contractors Chief Economist Ken Simonson said overall U.S. construction spending set another record in October, rising "a hefty" 0.7 percent from September.

The McGraw-Hill report said there were gains for nonresidential building and non-building construction (public works and electric utilities), that offset a moderate decline for the housing sector. Through the first ten months of 2005, both the AGC and McGraw-Hill said U.S. total construction spending was up 9 percent over the same period in 2004.

"The recent strength for total construction has been helped by a healthier pace for nonresidential building, combined with what is still an exceptionally strong amount of homebuilding," said Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction. "But with mortgage rates now edging up, there's the growing sense that single-family housing may be rounding a peak. For total construction to stay close to current levels, further expansion will be needed from both the nonresidential and public works sectors.

"The higher cost of building materials, especially in the aftermath of the September hurricanes, makes it more difficult for this to occur. On the plus side, nonresidential building will derive some benefit from improved market fundamentals such as rising occupancies, while the new federal transportation bill should aid the public
works sector."

The Midwest was up 2 percent during the first 10 months of the year - the smallest increase among all U.S. regions.

Construction jobs still male-dominated
Career counselors have traditionally steered high school girls away from construction and other traditionally male jobs - and that's a trend that continues today.

So says a report released Oct. 27 by the National Women's Law Center called Tools of the Trade, which looked at 12 states, including Michigan, and examined girls' participation in career and technical education programs that are nontraditional for their gender.

The report found that in spite of the 33-year-old federal Title IX law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, girls still represent the vast majority of students in traditionally female fields and boys are nearly all the students enrolled in traditionally male programs - a pattern virtually unchanged over the last three decades.

For example, a 1977 study by the federal Office for Civil Rights found that girls made up 14 percent of students in trade and industrial courses. Today, girls represent only 15 percent of students taking classes in traditionally male fields such as carpentry, automotive, masonry and welding.

"The hard truth is that most carpenters and electricians simply earn much more than health care workers and cosmetologists," said Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center and report contributor. "Breaking down the barriers that prevent girls from enrolling in nontraditional courses is not just a fairness issue, it's an issue of dollars and cents."

Specifically in Michigan, the numbers were worse for women: the report found that females comprise only 6 percent of career and technical education courses under the "construction and repair" category.