Construction

/CONSTRUCTION activity of all types increased ^-^ moderately in 1937 in spite of a marked decline in public construction expenditures. The decline in public activity was due largely to curtailment of the Federal public works program. Private construction expenditures moved up more than a billion dollars last year, the largest relative increases being recorded by factory building and public utility construction. During 1936, increases in both public and private construction contributed to the gain made over 1935. Although construction activity has risen steadily since 1934, the total volume for the past year was only about two-thirds of the average annual volume during the period from 1923 to 1930. The fluctuations in private, public, and total activity since 1915 are shown in figure 14. In the past, construction appears to have been a comparatively constant portion of total durable-goods activity. This is true despite the wide year-to-year fluctuations, which appear to be larger than those for any other industry of comparable magnitude. Over the 14-year period 1919 to 1932, construction volume was 46 percent of total durable-goods activity, according to estimates by the National Bureau of Economic Research. In recent years construction activity has been at depressed levels, but it still accounts for a considerable portion of the reduced volume of durablegoods production. The volume of construction activity from year to year is affected by a number of factors; foremost among these are the influences arising from economic, social, and governmental forces. In the following brief discussion, which emphasizes the developments of the last few years, the fluctuations in this important industry will be analyzed in terms of some of the major factors influencing the demand for various types of works and structures. Residential Building