Construction Spending Jumps 1% in December

onstruction spending rose a full 1% in December, the sixth straight increase, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

pending rose to a $1.16 trillion annual rate, Commerce said. December’s gain followed a 0.5% increase in November, greater than an originally reported 0.2%.

Construction spending for all of last year rose 8.9% to a record $1.12 trillion.

Construction spending can boost demand for trucking services because spending increases the number of shipments of goods and building materials.

Private non-residential construction rose 1%, which was 7.6% higher than the same month a year ago. Overall non-residential construction rose 1.3%, following a 1.1% gain.

Construction spending by the federal government jumped 6.7%, while state and local spending rose 0.2%.

Year-over-year, government spending on construction rose 9.7%.