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An Oregon construction contractor brought some good news to a national forum on Friday. Don Laskey, owner of Laskey-Clifton Corp. of Reedsport, said stimulus projects have allowed him to keep workers employed and even add new workers.

Laskey joined a handful of contractors from across the country on a conference call hosted by the Associated General Contractors of America. Each had preserved or added jobs thanks to stimulus projects.

Laskey-Clifton, a heavy construction company founded by Laskey’s father in 1959, felt the effects of the recession last year. 鈥淲e started seeing a decline in the number of jobs in 2008, in March or so, and a real increase in the amount of competition for projects,鈥� Laskey said.

鈥淭hat’s still the case today,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut we were able to get some asphalt paving projects totaling almost 5 million dollars.鈥�

Those projects include a state stimulus job at Bullard’s Beach State Park and highway paving work for the Oregon Department of Transportation funded by the federal stimulus package.

With the stimulus projects, Laskey said, he kept 15 employees who otherwise would have been laid off. He now plans to hire at least seven, possibly up to 14, new employees.

Laskey typically employs 43 to 75 people, depending on the season.

Stimulus jobs are one of few bright spots in the ailing construction industry, AGC chief economist Ken Simonson said Friday. Nationwide, the loss of construction jobs slowed, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.

However, Simonson said, nonresidential construction will continue to suffer. 鈥淚 suspect this shows home building is finally touching bottom while nonresidential construction still has a ways to fall.鈥�

Construction unemployment, at more than 19 percent, is still more than double national unemployment, Simonson said. 鈥淐onstruction continues to bear a disproportionate share of the pain from this recession.鈥�
Residential construction could pick up by the end of the year, Simonson said. Nonresidential construction has few strong points, however, and probably won’t pick up until mid-2010 at the earliest.

Those few strong points are energy construction 鈥� power plants, wind farms and transmission lines 鈥� military base realignment construction and stimulus work. Oregon has projects in each of these categories.
Stimulus work alone won’t turn construction around, Simonson said. 鈥淓ven though the stimulus will be adding some jobs back, it’s not going to overcome the decline in these other areas.鈥�

That said, each new project helps boost the local economy. Laskey said he’s able to support suppliers and subcontractors. 鈥淥n the paving jobs, we’re creating many, many more trickle-down jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s much larger than just our company.鈥�

Similar findings have come out of studies, including one by George Mason University professor Stephen Fuller, commissioned by AGC. That study found that each billion dollars spent on nonresidential construction creates 28,500 jobs. Spread out over the broader economy, that billion dollars increases the country’s gross domestic product by $3.4 billion.

Surviving the recession means being able to adapt, Laskey said. Laskey-Clifton performs water treatment plant and bridge construction, along with underground work. Those areas haven’t seen much stimulus work yet, but they could in the future. In the meantime, Laskey-Clifton has been busy with paving.

鈥淲e’re fortunate we are diversified,鈥� Laskey said. 鈥淭his has been an economically depressed area since the 1980s, when the timber industry declined.

鈥淲e’re accustomed to that, and we’ve pretty much learned to adapt.鈥�