Small Construction Firms Top List of Virus Relief Loan Approvals

Construction firms have had a larger share of loans approved than other industries so far under a government program meant to help small businesses survive the coronavirus outbreak, and the average loan amount for all applications has been about $239,000, a new report shows.

The U.S. Small Business Administration on Tuesday released the most comprehensive report to date of the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, a cornerstone of the federal government’s $2.2 trillion response to pandemic. It details more than 1 million applications totaling $247.5 billion approved as of Monday.

As of late afternoon Tuesday, almost 1.2 million applications, ...