Irish construction activity declined at faster rate in November and business sentiment turned negative for the first time in almost a year, new data showed today.
The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers' Index, which tracks changes in total construction activity, declined to 41.7 last month from 42.3 in October. This is the third month in a row the overall index has fallen, and it was the fastest pace of deterioration in the building industry seen since May.
The Government's cutbacks on its capital programme continued to hit the sector hard, with civil engineering showing the sharpest falls in activity since September 2009. It also affected sentiment for the sector's future, which fell to an 18-month low.
Employment and new business also declined at faster rates.
"Declining levels of new incoming business remains a critical issue facing the sector, as tentative signs of stabilisation in the summer have given way to renewed weakness in new orders in the past three months," said Ulster Bank economist Simon Barry.
"The ongoing decline in workloads continues to put considerable downward pressure on staffing levels across the sector, with the November survey showing that the pace of job shedding accelerated to its fastest pace since May."
As a result of falling workloads, input buying also decline, and the rate of inflation was the slowest in three months.
There was a slight easing in the rate of decline in activity in the commercial sector, but housing activity saw a faster pace of contraction.
