It’s great to get some good news for a change. After a year of recession and plummeting profits, the Associated General Contractors of America has reported that construction spending increased in April.

Most of the gains in the construction industry came from the residential private sector, which saw a 4.4 percent increase over the previous month. Public construction projects for April were also up 2.4 percent from March. Even the private nonresidential sector saw some modest growth, a 1.7 percent increase from March to April.

The only downside to the good news is that most of the increases in spending are coming from stimulus funds. Not a lot of companies and customers are spending their own money. But there is some hope. It is possible that the stimulus funds will help keep contractors and construction companies busy until the economy gets firmly back on its feet.

Has anyone been working on any stimulus-funded projects? And what is your prediction for the construction economy next year?