With a jump in spending on public construction partly offset by a drop in spending on private construction, the Commerce Department released a report on Monday showing that U.S. construction spending rose much less than expected in December.
The Commerce Department said construction spending inched up 0.1 percent to an annual rate of $1.117 trillion in December from the revised November estimate of $1.116 trillion. Economists had expected spending to climb by 0.6 percent.
The modest increase in construction spending came as spending on public construction surged up 1.9 percent to an annual rate of $292.5 billion.
Spending on highway construction jumped 9.4 percent to a rate of $95.4 billion, while spending on educational construction fell by 0.5 percent to a rate of $69.4 billion.
Meanwhile, the report also said spending private construction dropped by 0.6 percent to an annual rate of $824.0 billion.
While spending on residential construction rose by 0.9 percent to a rate of $429.6 billion, spending on non-residential construction tumbled by 2.1 percent to a rate of $394.4 billion.
The Commerce Department noted total construction spending in December was up by 8.2 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
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