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A business group says the economic downturn is still having an effect on New York City’s construction industry – a key driver for commercial insurance spending in the region.

The New York Building Congress says construction spending in the city dropped 12 percent in 2010.

It estimated that by year’s end, the city will have lost 16,000 construction jobs since 2008.

But the group is forecasting better times ahead.

It predicted in a report that the industry will rebound next year and experience healthy growth in 2012.

But that growth is largely contingent on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority going ahead with $7.6 billion in transit projects it has planned for 2012.

By the group’s estimates, the cash-strapped agency would account for a quarter of all construction spending in the city that year.

Topics New York Construction