Construction put in place rises for fourth straight month; ISM mfg., non-mfg. indexes both up.
The Data DIGest, Dec. 31-Jan. 6
The value of construction put in place rose for the fourth straight month in November to $843 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Census Bureau reported recently. (Seasonal adjustment is a statistical process to adjust for the number of work days and normal seasonal variation in activity among months. Annual rate means the value that would result if that month's activity continued for 12 months.) The volume was the highest in six months and stood 0.3% above October's revised figure, which itself was 1% higher than in September (originally estimated as a 0.3% gain). For the first 11 months of 2002, value put in place was 0.3% higher than in January-November 2001. Private residential and public construction were each up by 6%; private nonresidential construction was down by 17%.