To offset the construction slowdown, the group has diversified--with mixed results--into satellite communications, financial services, industrial and power projects and petroleum, chemicals and mining.
This was partly offset by slowdown in construction equipment sales in China.
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The revisions offset each other, continuing the recent pattern in which the slowdown in housing is being offset by the pickup in nonresidential construction.
The homebuilding industry shrank again, but at a slower rate than in previous quarters, and the dampening effect on the economy was partly offset by a big increase in the construction of commercial buildings.
Employment has continued to expand as job losses in manufacturing and residential construction have been more than offset by gains in other sectors, notably health care, leisure and hospitality, and professional and technical services, and unemployment remains low by historical standards.
Also disappeared from the landscape are the big tax-equity investors such as Lehman Brothers and hedge funds that underwrote windmill construction to capture their favorable tax credits to offset other gains.
The company added that while the fourth quarter would benefit as usual from the boost in seasonal sales, that would be offset by inventory destocking by its customers and a continued softening of the construction sector.
"We think residential construction will continue to support economic growth, but it will be difficult to offset weakness in other parts of the economy, like manufacturing, " said Elizabeth Ptacek, senior vice president and real-estate analyst at KeyBank in Cleveland.
Even more important, those new jobs were largely the result of growth in the private sector, in construction, manufacturing, retail, and health care, gains that were substantial enough to offset the continuing cut-backs in government payrolls.
We see that construction spending fell by 20 percent, for instance, which is a sizable number - but that was offset by the fact that consumer spending was higher than expected.
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