The long-awaited rebound in Connecticut’s construction industry won’t occur until 2014, at the earliest, according to an economy review from a Construction Institute forum.
At the Hartford-based Construction Institute’s 17th Annual “State of the State” market outlook on Thursday, economist Ron Van Winkle said the recession that started in 2008 will leave the industry in dire straits for at least the next 2 ½  years.
“This recession was so hard and so deep that we are struggling to find our way out of it,” Van Winkle said in his analysis of the Connecticut construction economy. Van Winkle is West Hartford town manager.
Compared to other slumps in the construction industry over the last 50 years, the current economy malaise already is the third worst and could become the worst, Van Winkle said.
From 1989 to 1992, the state construction industry lost 36,000 jobs, a 44 percent decrease in the workforce, Van Winkle said. From 1973 to 1975, the industry shed 22,400 jobs, a 37 percent decrease.
From 2008 to 2010, the sector shed 20,500 jobs, a 30 percent decrease in the workforce, he said.
The Connecticut construction industry peaked in the 1980s with more than 80,000 jobs. At the end of 2010, the industry had 49,600 employees, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A key hurdle from the current recession is the lack of jobs, Van Winkle said. Although it appears the state industry has hit the bottom, the bounce upward isn’t coming soon. Other factors such as looming credit defaults in Greece can still have a major impact on the world, national and Connecticut economy.
“Today, we have a hard recession,” Van Winkle said.
