SIPTU HAS called on the Government to do more to promote employment in construction after a new report predicted that up to 55,000 jobs are to go in the sector by the end of next year.
Labour also called for Government action following the gloomy claim by employment and training authority Fás that by the end of 2009 the housing slump will have cost the jobs of 76,000 workers.
Fás says 21,000 jobs will be created in other parts of the construction industry, giving a net job loss of 55,000.
"We're looking at an awful haemorrhage of jobs in the housing sector, and both this year and next year will be tough," said John McGrath, the author of the report, which was prepared for the Fás construction sub-committee.
Siptu's national organiser for the construction industry, Eric Fleming, said the Government had no choice but to act if it was to avert a devastating blow for construction and the wider economy.
"An obvious place to start is fast-forwarding infrastructural projects under the National Development Plan, such as the eastern bypass and the outer orbital roads for Dublin. It should also be investing more in social housing for the many young couples who cannot afford to buy their own homes."
Mr Fleming also called on the Government to curb development land prices by implementing the 1973 Kenny report, which proposed a windfall tax on development land and to provide more training for construction workers.
Labour's employment spokesman Willie Penrose said school-building programmes should be stepped up, and the cap removed on the numbers allowed to join community employment schemes.
Fás is more optimistic about the longer-term prospects for the industry, and predicts a partial recovery in jobs by 2013. By then, Mr McGrath forecasts the net loss in housing jobs will be reduced to 57,000, while 34,000 new jobs will be created in other areas, giving a net job loss of 23,000.
The impact of the slump in construction will vary hugely across different trades and sub-sectors, he says. Traditional "wet" trades such as blocklaying, bricklaying and plastering, as well as carpentry, will be worst affected.
He says these are suffering a "double whammy" caused by the steep decline in the number of new houses being built, and a move away from traditional materials in big projects in favour of glass and concrete panelling.
Many of the new jobs to be created are expected to come in infrastructural projects planned by the Government under the National Development Plan. However, these could also be affected by a deterioration in the State finances.
