NEW YORK CITY-At a New York Building Congress breakfast Wednesday, the group indicated that construction spending and employment have seen slight improvement of late, though it likewise projected gloomy days ahead, as government spending on infrastructure rolls back.

The NYBC's “New York City Construction Outlook 2011-2013” predicts spending and employment to remain fairly steady until 2013, when problems could arise, though Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corp., said that the city’s capital commitments were actually up.

“The overall health of the city’s industry is pretty good,” NYBC president Richard Anderson said. “But it's very dependent on government work while the private market strengthens.” Anderson said that non-residential construction in the city was “overall pretty strong,” but that infrastructure spending—so crucial to keeping a bad situation from becoming worse during the economic downturn—is starting to slip.

It became clear that, according to NYBC projections, a decrease in government spending on infrastructure projects could prove to be a major hurdle. After next year, the group predicts a drop off, as private work fails to make up for a decline in public construction spending. Government spending, which is predicted to reach $14.4 billion for 2011, will fall to $9.6 billion in 2013, the NYBC projects. One of the most alarming drops in this area is seen in projections for the MTA’s capital spending program. There are no major committments yet scheduled for 2013, which could cause MTA spending to decline to $2.4 billion that year.

Currently, overall construction spending is on track to hit $27.7 billion in 2011—a one percent decline from 2010—while construction jobs should average 106,900 for 2011. If true, jobs will also decrease when compared to the year previous, which saw 111,800.

Pinsky said that the city’s capital commitments were actually up since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office. He also pointed out that, according to certain metrics, like overall employment, the city has fared better than the country as a whole.

Pinsky went on to say that the administration had kept its eye on the longterm and that, “even after the prudent capital reductions undertaken by the mayor over the last couple of years, the city’s fiscal year 2012 budget shows five year capital committments of some $27 billion.”