Employment in the construction sector continued to fall in March, slipping 11.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office.
This was the largest decline since the Index of Employment in Construction, which covers private firms employing five or more people, began in 1994. The monthly change indicated a drop of 1.5 per cent on February.
Provisional figures show the monthly employment index decreased from 110.1 in March 2007 to 97.2 in March 2008.
This is the twelfth consecutive month that the rate of employment in the industry has fallen, providing further evidence of a slowdown in the construction sector. The first quarter of the year has been particularly bad for employment in the sector. Final data for February showed a decrease of 10.8 per cent year on year, while the number of jobs in the sector fell by 10 per cent in January.
"Today's construction figures are further evidence that the recent sharp decline in house completions has considerably reduced the number of job opportunities for those working in the construction trades," said Fas economist Brian McCormick.
"Furthermore, the recent closure of Habitat indicates that this negative employment effect has begun to spill over into the construction-related services sector."
The turnaround, which began in April 2007 when employment fell by 0.1 per cent, has lost jobs steadily over the past year.
According to Fas, the new figures are consistent with the recent rise in the Live Register, which has seen a rise in the number of men signing on. Some 95 per cent of construction workers are male.
The employment authority is predicting further declines in construction jobs in the residential property sector.
"We take the view that employment in construction will be almost 50,000 off its Q1 2007 peak by the end of 2009. This will pose serious policy challenges," it warned in a statement.
However, Mr McCormick was reasonably optimistic that there would be growth in other areas of the construction sector, within emerging construction sectors such as sustainable development, and repair and maintenance, which has seen a lot of activity in recent months. "NDP-funded infrastructural projects will also continue to provide job opportunities in the future," he said.
Activity in these sectors is not measured in the index, meaning that the total fall in overall construction employment could be less severe than the index portrays.
Fas is predicting that unemployment will rise to 6.6 per cent in 2009 due to predicted losses in the office and retail sector, and the impact of the difficulty in the residential property sector during 2008.
