The housing boom was nice (while it lasted) for folks who’d bought well-located homes before it began, but it was also great for people working in the building trades, a field that continued to offer decent blue collar jobs at a time when manufacturing was taking a beating. But then came the downturn. And now comes the news that “Housing construction falls larger-than-expected amount in August to lowest level in 17 years.”
In light of the housing situation, this is natural and inevitable. And in some respects, it’s even good. The country’s population continues to grow and part of what’s needed to mop up the excess supply of housing is to just chill out on building new stuff for a while, especially in those once-booming exurbs, until demand catches up and then we can start building again. And some jobs lost in the construction sector should reappear as manufacturing jobs as a sliding dollar boosts exports and cuts imports. But the transition could be extremely painful, especially if American problems lead to weak demand worldwide which will make it difficult for export sectors to provide jobs. This is why we could use something like the green recovery program that will help make up for these lost construction jobs by building the infrastructure we need for the 21st century.
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