While AGC contractors are cautiously optimistic about job growth in the construction industry for the coming year, the last year has been one of mixed results in New England. According to numbers presented by the AGC from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted, three of the six New England states experienced modest job growth in the construction industry. Two states saw continued job loss, while Vermont remained largely unchanged.

By adding 800 jobs, New Hampshire's 3.6% increase in construction jobs put it 5th in the country. Massachusetts and Maine were 12th and 13th respectively. Rhode Island saw the loss of 1,200 construction jobs, making its performance 44th in the nation.

Here are the percentage job gains/losses for the New England states in the 12 months ending December 2010. The full table of 50 states is available here.

Connecticut: -4.9%
Maine: +0.8%
Massachusetts: +1.2%
New Hampshire +3.6%
Rhode Island: -7.1%
Vermont: 0%

In the second edition of White House White Board, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, looks back at the President’s record on the economy through the perspective of the last three years in private sector employment.

From WhiteHouse.gov.



"Here’s the bottom line: when President Obama came into office in January of 2009, we were in the middle of the worst economic crisis this country has seen since the Great Depression. Through the Recovery Act, tax credits for working families and small businesses, and investments in the industries of the future, we are getting back on the right track. We went from losing nearly 800,000 jobs in a single month as the President came into office to our ninth straight month of private sector job growth last month.
We still have a lot of work to do. Times are still tough for millions of Americans who are out of work, and we’re not going to rest until those folks can find a job.
"

Congratulations to union contractor Turner Construction and union carpenters in Maine. A groundbreaking was held today for the $75 million expansion of the Portland Jetport. The project will involve several phases that will add three gates, double the size of the existing terminal, add to baggage handling capacity and update and upgrade de-icing and security capabilities, among other improvements.

The project will add scores of construction and permanent jobs without cost to the city. Funding is coming from existing fees being charged to passengers as well as stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Pictured at the groundbreaking, below, from left to right; Charlie Buuck of Turner Construction, John Leavitt, Business Manager for Carpenters Local 1996 and Pete Hamill of Turner Construction.

Also at the groundbreaking were, below from left to right: Portland Mayor Nick Mavadonis, Portland City Councilor Dan Skolnick, Leavitt and Congressman Mike Michaud.

Washington

Local governments would receive billions of dollars for construction projects and welfare programs in the latest in a series of election-year jobs bills Democrats are pushing in Congress.

The House passed a bill yesterday that combines $13.2 billion in interest subsidies for local construction bonds with $3.6 billion in tax cuts for small businesses and $2.5 billion in aid to states to pay for expanded welfare programs through September 2011.

The House passed the bill on a vote of 246 to 178, with nearly all Republicans opposed. The measure now goes to the Senate.

The Democrats aim to pass a series of modest measures to address unemployment as congressional elections approach in November.

The Fair Labor Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office is hiring an Outreach Coordinator. The posting on the State’s website can be found here. Some details for the position are listed below. For full information, visit the link above.

Full-Time or Part-Time: Full-Time
Salary Range: $1,526.42 to $2,205.46 Biweekly

Duties:
The Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for serving as a liaison between the Division and community organizations, other public stakeholders and referring parties. Responds to inquiries from agency staff and others in order to provide information concerning Division procedures, including the filing of complaints. Maintains liaison with various private, local, state and federal agencies and others in order to exchange information and /or resolve problems. Other responsibilities include preparing Division outreach materials and providing outreach presentations to the public regarding the Commonwealth’s Wage and Hour laws. The Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for overseeing and responding to oral and written inquiries from the public about the Wage and Hour laws; making necessary referrals to other state and federal agencies; coordinating dissemination of public outreach materials; performing data entry using computerized case management system and word processing; maintaining records and analyzing data; and other office responsibilities, as assigned by the Division’s Chief and/or Deputy Chief.

Qualifications:
Applicants must have at least (A) two years of full-time, or equivalent part-time professional, administrative or managerial experience in business administration, business management or public administration the major duties of which involved program management, program administration, program coordination, program planning and/or program analysis, or (B) any equivalent combination of the required experience and substitutions

Preferred Qualifications:
Applicants should have at least two years of full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional or technical experience in related office work. Fluency in Spanish and/or Portuguese is preferred. Background in labor standards, as well as a JD or related degree, is preferred.

Comments:
The Office is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Office actively seeks to increase the diversity of its workforce.

Please visit the Job Opportunities section of the Attorney General’s web site at
WWW.MASS.GOV/AGO for all job postings.

If applying for more than one position, send separate cover letters and resumes. Use the 10# as reference to position.

How To Apply:
Apply by submitting cover letter and resume to:

Sandra Macdonald, Recruitment & Hiring Coordinator
Office of the Attorney General
Human Resource Management Office
One Ashburton Place, 18th Floor
Boston, MA 02108

Inquiries regarding position & status may be made to: Amy Goyer, Chief of Investigations
(617) 727-2200 ext 2319

Tradesworkers in New Hampshire recently rallied to support a legislative initiative that would expand gaming in the state, creating thousands of jobs and desperately needed revenue for the state.

Stop us if you've heard this one before. The Christian Science Monitor has run a story saying that American workers are creating more wealth through productivity, but getting a far smaller share of the wealth they create.

American labor isn't getting its full share of the nation's output.

Indeed, its share is at a "record low," says Charles McMillion, chief economist at MBG Information Services, a Washington consulting firm. "Labor has no leverage." So wages have been "depressed, stagnant, or falling" for some 30 years.

Much of that lost compensation went to business and its owners. Last year, for example, businesses raised workers' hourly pay a little (2.2 percent) but cut their hours a lot (5.1 percent). The result? The remaining workforce became considerably more productive, creating more goods and services per hour worked.

Ideally, business and labor would share about equally in productivity gains. Over the past three decades, though, business has reaped the bigger share. For every dollar of goods and services the United States produced in 1974, all employees reaped about 59 cents. Last year, their share had fallen to 55 cents. In a $14 trillion economy, that amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars in lost wages every year.

Carpenters will rally on Thursday, December 17th at 4:00 pm at Bronstein Park in Manchester, NH, located on the corner of Hanover and Beech Street, in the hopes of jump-starting a large project at Manchester’s Job Corps Center.

The project was brought to a halt in November when North Branch Construction, Inc. and the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (ABC) filed a bid protest that put an end to the project.

Any and all members are encouraged to attend the rally. Labor leaders, elected officials, youth leaders, and clergy and will be speaking at the event. Hot soup will be served.

For more information about the rally, contact John Jackson at 603-365-0426.

To learn more, visit www.Plaswork.org.

Quincy Patriot Ledger Business Editor Jon Chesto tweets a link to a state release on jobs.

The bad news has reversed, but not in any meaningful way. From the release...

Construction gained 100 jobs in October, this sector's first monthly gain since February. At 108,400, Construction employment is down 22,100 or a 16.9 percent rate of job loss over the year.

Several hundred people, including union carpenters, members of the Building Trades and other union members braved the wind and rain last night to rally at Brockton City Hall in support of a proposal to build a natural gas plant in the city.

Brockton Clean Energy was being considered at a meeting of the Brockton City Council's Finance Committee. Construction of the project would create 300 union jobs for two years and provide necessary energy to the grid in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Some have traditionally tried to portray environmental causes as anti-business or too costly. But an interesting campaign in a former steel town in Pennsylvania is making a strong case for a connection between environmental protection and creation of traditional manufacturing jobs.

Named Carbon Caps=Hard Hats, it uses a charismatic Mayor who defies several stereotypes to make the case. There are several very effective video spots that have been produced.

Here's one of the ads. Others can be viewed here.


Here's a primer on Carbon Caps, excerpted from the site:

What is a carbon cap?
A Carbon Cap is a limit placed on carbon pollution. A national limit is set and carbon allowances (emission permits) are auctioned or allocated to companies. Companies that can reduce their emissions cheaply can make money by selling their extra allowances to others. This ensures overall emission reductions are achieved at low cost. And it gives everyone a profit motive to reduce pollution as much as possible. (Only large polluters are regulated under a Cap.)

New jobs americans [sic] can do tomorrow
Take the wind turbine. It’s a machine. Americans are good at machines. A typical wind turbine has 8,000 parts and is made of 250 tons of steel. Somebody’s got to make that steel, fabricate those parts, assemble those parts, deliver the assembled turbine to a wind farm, erect the turbine and manage the wind farm. That’s a lot of jobs right in the American workers’ sweet spot. And this is just one example. A Carbon Cap will create demand for energy efficient windows, LED lighting, ball bearings for turbines and thousands of other products. And by starting now, we’ll make sure these products are made here and exported all over the world. Instead of becoming more products we have to import.

New jobs create more jobs
Imagine a place like Braddock, Pennsylvania with new investments to supply clean energy industries. Once workers start bringing home paychecks, they start buying again. Making wind turbines is hungry work. The diner and the grocery store get busy again. The diner and grocery hire more workers. Those workers need clothes and cars and computers. Suddenly a dying town is a thriving community again.