Sun, Sep 07, 2008

Business

sahuarita is lone gainer

Tucson area shedding home-building jobs

Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.09.2008
The greater Tucson area is losing thousands of home construction jobs as new-home development slows.
The area had 2,643 fewer home- building jobs in May, compared with May 2007, according to estimates from the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. The association used an industry estimate of 2.5 full-time jobs per building permit.
Tucson alone shed 1,022 construction jobs. Still-growing Sahuarita was the only one of six areas to add workers, with 62 new jobs.
The dwindling payrolls come as building permits have fallen 41 percent through May of this year, SAHBA said, citing data from market analyst John Strobeck of Bright Future Business Consultants.
See boxes to the right for details of SAHBA's breakdown of the local construction-job picture.