Spending in the manufacturing sector ticked up 1% in May, and remains up more than 76% year over year. Meanwhile, office construction, which includes the booming data center sector, inched up close to 1% in May and remains up 6.7% year over year.
But despite the increases in these two types of private nonresidential spending, most other categories lag behind, said Ken Simonson, Associated General Contractors of America chief economist.