Saturday, February 06, 2010
Construction workers getting hammered by Bush Depression
And the reality is no joke to the thousands of workers who have seen available projects disappear as funding has dried up as quickly as desert rain.
Nationally, unemployment fell to 9.7% in January, but in construction it jumped to 24.7% from 18.7% in October. In many regions, union officials report 30% of their members are unemployed or "riding the bench." "In the previous 14 years, I had not been out of work for more than one week," says Pat O'Connor, 57, a Connecticut carpenter. With no work since July, O'Connor says, "It is a bad dream turning into a nightmare. Is construction dead? It's just horrible right now. No one expected this. It's a depression."No doubt many are working off books for family and friends, but that is a life for single guy with a pickup and a dog. It doesn't do much if you have a family and a mortgage. And with overbuilding a part of the problem in many areas, it will be a long time before prosperity returns to these workers.
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