Private nonresidential construction spending rose year-to-year in October, and public-sector spending reflected the pain the recession has imposed on government, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. analysis of data released this month by the Census Bureau.

At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $551.2 billion, the census data showed, total nonresidential construction spending was 0.9 percent below October 2010.

Private nonresidential work was up 8.4 percent from a year earlier, but public nonresidential showed an 8.9 percent decline.

Residential spending rose 0.6 percent year-over-year, but that was not enough to prevent overall construction spending from sinking 0.4 percent in the same period.

“The more things change, the more things stay the same,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "For months, the nonresidential construction industry has been characterized by rising levels of privately financed construction and declining levels of publicly financed construction."