Dive Brief:

• March construction spending information published Thursday shows that the annualized rate of spending on nonresidential work slipped down 0.1% in March to $568.5 billion.
• Spending was down in nine of the 16 categories in nonresidential: communications, education-related, commercial, public safety, sewage and waste, amusement and recreation, health care, conservation, and power.
• While down month-to-month, March came in 4.4% above the year-before rate.

Dive Insight:

Associated Builders and Contractors' chief economist, Anirban Basu, downplayed the importance of the decline, saying it came the day after meager economic growth in the first quarter surprised economists. He said "factors that have produced recent economic and construction slowdowns appear to be temporary for the most part and not a sign of emerging economic turbulence," and added that he thinks increased hiring means construction will get going again.