Hiring in the long-depressed US construction industry will get a boost from the rebuilding that will follow Superstorm Sandy — and lift economic growth in the first two quarters of 2013, according to a senior economist.
In the current quarter, the storm will slow the economy’s annual growth rate by a two-tenths of 1 percentage point, Wells Fargo’s Mark Vitner said, but reconstruction will speed the economy by the same amount in both the first and second quarters of 2013.
Last quarter, the economy grew at an estimated 2 percent annual rate.
Any help for construction could help invigorate the economy. Since the Great Recession ended nearly 3 1/2 years ago, economic growth has been slowed by lost construction jobs and diminished residential and commercial building.
“This is going to be a net positive, particularly in the mid-Atlantic,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director of Moody’s Economy.com.
Sandy inflicted up to $50 billion in estimated losses from property damage, lost business and additional living costs. The damage was concentrated near the coastlines of New Jersey and New York City.