SCBIZ Daily Staff

COLUMBIA -- Construction activity in the Carolinas during the first quarter of 2008 showed the biggest contraction in the 10-year history of the Carolinas Associated General Contractors Construction Barometer, the Charlotte-based trade group said.

The 2.2% drop in first quarter 2008 reflected a downward turn in every every statistical indicator.

“Nearly every Barometer statistic, with only a few minor exceptions, dropped, causing the index to post its worst showing ever at 2.36,” the CarolinasAGC said in a statement. “Worse yet, it’s quite likely that we will break the all-time low record set in March 2000 sometime before the end of 2008. It’s a tough market out there.”

“In keeping with current expectations regarding industry activity, the downturn was more severe in the less-populated regions such as the Eastern and Western North Carolina regions and South Carolina’s Lowcountry area. It was less substantial in the urban Heartland North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina areas,” the trade group said.

Deteriorating business volume, increasing concern about future activity, and growing contractor pessimism about the economy pushed statistical indicators downward.

Contractors reported rapidly rising overall construction and equipment costs in combination with slowing business activity.

Rapidly falling demand for labor, combined with an inflow of new workers and wages contracted as an excess of workers competed to find jobs, the trade group said.