Print edition: 
The embattled commercial construction industry is relying on publicly funded projects to prop up a sector racked by tight credit and unemployment, a national economist said Friday.
"The last years have been difficult ones," said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors, citing tight credit, high vacancy rates and depleted state and local coffers for the commercial building downturn.
Simonson and several national contractors held a conference call Friday to update the status of the struggling industry.
Those struggles are the same in Wichita and Kansas, where the industry would be in a free-fall without public projects like the Wichita school district bond issue.
"The problem is on the private side," said Dave Wells, president of Key Construction in Wichita. "Nobody can get adequate financing on private projects, so I really don't see that coming back right now....
"Projects eligible for public support are one thing, but the ones that can't tap into that kind of money are really suffering."
There's some short-term good news in the commercial construction sector, Simonson said. The industry has added 40,000 new jobs over the past two months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It's welcome news to an industry that has lost 2.1 million jobs and has seen construction spending fall $360 billion, or 30 percent, since peaking in March 2007, Simonson said.
"There is more stimulus-funded construction activity in more sectors at any point since last February," he said.
"While it was too little for too long, it's not too late to help an industry suffering 21.8 percent unemployment."
But what happens when the stimulus projects dry up, especially with inaction on several federal infrastructure programs?
That's the worry, said Corey Peterson, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Kansas.
"Most of the work in Kansas remains in the public sector. The private sector is still extremely light," he said. "Everyone's waiting on banks to start loaning money again."
Peterson and Wells said they think the Wichita school bond projects should help local builders.
Simonson, though, worries about the long-term future of the industry.
"The stimulus is temporary, while the construction downturn is likely to be protracted," he said.
"I don't expect demand to begin to grow until 2011 at the earliest, and state and local construction spending is unlikely to grow until 2012."
