Dive Brief:

• There were two reactions to Tuesday's government figures on May construction – one saying that another increased month was a good sign for the industry and another saying that a 0.1% increase was close to no increase at all after a 0.8% rise in April.
• The overall spending was at an annual pace of $956 million without seasonal adjustments, which was 6.6% higher than a year ago, and within that was a $1.5% decline in private residential construction and a 4.3% rise in power construction, which includes oil fields.
• Referring to the roller-coaster numbers for various sectors, Associated General Contractors Chief economist Ken Simonson said, "These uneven patterns seem likely to continue for the rest of the year."

Dive Insight:

One snapshot illustrates how hard it is to draw overall conclusions from the construction numbers. In May, overall public spending was up 1% because local and state expenditures rose enough to offset the federal government's dropping 8.9%. But if the Highway Trust Fund is not replenished, then the local and state portion may crash.