Construction jobs in Manatee still shrinking | Jobs News | Bradenton ...

MANATEE -- Construction jobs in Manatee and Sarasota have failed to respond to a recent uptick in building activity.

Despite a new housing market on pace for its best year since the crash, and commercial construction slowly rebounding, jobs in the industry continue to run at their lowest totals since the doldrums of the recession.

With the wounds of the bust still fresh, builders are hesitant to hire new workers and remain concerned about future demand.

Their payrolls reflect that.

"The recession has been so long and so deep, it's hard to change that overnight," said Charles Wilson, a commercial builder in Sarasota. "Builders are doing well, but they're not doing well enough to hire five guys or put on another crew."

Builders in Manatee alone have pulled 1,280 new residential building permits from the first of the year through Thursday -- a 28 percent jump from the same time last year, a 40 percent climb from 2010 and more than double the mark of 2009, according to the county.

The 55 new commercial building permits issued so far this year in Manatee also have gradually grown from the 23 of three years ago, records show.

While those increases hint progress, construction remains drastically scaled back from the boom days, which builders themselves say they never want to see again.

The historic crash that followed forced the sector to pause, firms to shutter and 350,000 Floridans to look for work elsewhere.

Those jobs still have not returned.

A Bradenton Herald review of labor department records show the 14,600 laborers employed in the construction industry in September were down for the same month each year dating back to at least 2009 -- when the recession had its tightest grip on the market.

And despite a 28 percent boost to residential building permits, the area still lost 300 construction jobs during the past 12 months.

In fact, employment in construction has held steady for most of the year, growing by only 200 jobs since February, the six months this year when builders have been at their busiest.

"You would think month to month, you would start to see an uptick in the numbers," said Sally Hill, spokeswoman for Suncoast Workforce, the local jobs agency. "While the number of jobs are still down, they're declining at a smaller rate ... We still haven't quite recov

ered in that industry."

Construction companies were forced to lay off so many workers during the downtown, many remain wary of hiring staff back on -- scared they will just have to go through those same painful cuts in another few years.

Some of those problems can still be evidenced today with companies like Paradise Homes, which is on the verge of collapse and may leave started homes unbuilt in Lakewood Ranch, according to company documents.

Companies have grown so accustomed to a bare-bones staff, they're having employees pick up overtime and do more with less, said Carlos Beruff, president and founder of Bradenton-based Medallion Home.

Technological advancements also have allowed builders to operate more efficiently.

Even as things pick up, builders will likely keep that efficiency going as long as they can to avoid the risk of hiring new, Beruff said.

Area homebuilder Pat Neal attributes the lull in construction employment to large-scale commercial projects such as schools, theaters and government buildings, which have been plagued by budget cuts.

Although Neal added 20 new employees this year to account for his company's record sales pace, he predicts that tally would have been higher had increasing labor taxes also not cut into the pie.

A new electronic system he installed has taken the jobs of six in the office and eight in the field.

"Until people are confident, they're holding back on hiring," Neal said. "They're taking a cautious approach."

Across the state, the 317,400 construction jobs in Florida in September were down by about 5,000 positions from a year ago. That was even after the state added 4,200 new construction jobs during the month -- largely easing the yearly loss.

Wages for those workers also remain stagnant.

General construction laborers in the Bradenton-Sarasota market earned a median salary of $11.88 an hour in 2011, the latest survey available from the labor department. In 2008, the median was $12.65.

"There's all kinds of things builders are trying to figure out to make sure they're financially healthy before they hire that new employee," Beruff said. "The bottom line is even at this hurried pace, we're only running at 20 percent of peak."

As the industry mounts gains closer to 50 percent of its boom levels, the hiring will become more evident, Beruff said.

That's a target he believes is realistic and sustainable.

Josh Salman, Herald business writer, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow him on Twitter @JoshSalman.

Source: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/10/26/4253875/construction-jobs-in-manatee-still.html

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