Annual employment growth in the construction industry fell by 4.5 percentage points at the end of June amid a slowdown in the residential property market, new figures show.
The latest Quarterly National Household Survey from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveals that employment in the sector grew by 6.7 per cent, or 17,600, in the year to the second quarter of 2007.
But this compares to an annual growth rate of 11.2 per cent in the previous quarter and to a rate of 8.4 per cent in the same quarter last year.
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said the figures "clearly demonstrate the importance of construction to the Irish economy and show the continued moderate growth in employment in the construction sector".
CIF director general Liam Kelleher said: "It is worth noting that of all the jobs added in the last 12 months in the Irish economy, one third of those jobs were filled in the construction industry."
"While there has been an undoubted slowdown in the new homes or residential sector, all other sectors of the construction industry continue to expand. . . . All the recent indications are that employment growth in the construction industry will continue to moderate."
Fergal O'Brien, senior economist with business lobby group Ibec, said: "The latest data really relate to the months before the marked slowdown in residential construction activity, and we will have to wait until later in the year to see the full labour market impact of this adjustment."
"Nevertheless, the second quarter data do show that construction employment fell for the first time in four years."