While the short-term view was glum, the construction industry generally is taking an upbeat, long-term look at U.S. spending data that came out Monday.

Monthly figures from the Census Bureau showed construction spending dropping 1.1 percent month-over-month, but a comparison with February 2011 showed it was up 5.8 percent.

The gains were in residential and non-residential projects, but only in the private sector. Ongoing fiscal problems for governments resulted in a less-cheerful picture there.

"It is heartening to see that nearly all private residential and nonresidential segments exceeded their February 2011 levels this February and that the decline in public construction has moderated from the steep pace of early last year,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors. “The improvement is too widespread to be attributable just to favorable weather comparisons.”