Employment, wages down in construction enterprises

Year-on-year data reveal that employment in construction activities fell by 7.4%, on account of declines in employment in the construction of buildings (-10.4%), in civil engineering (-1.4%) and in specialised construction activities (-5.1%).

A drop of 6.5% was registered for wages and salaries resulting from declines of 9.0% in respect of construction of building activities, 4.2% in civil engineering and 4.1% in specialised construction activities.

During the first quarter of 2011, hours worked decreased by 6.6% when compared to the same quarter last year. Hours worked in the construction of buildings and specialised construction activities fell by 11.6 and 1.0% respectively. Mitigating this effect was a slight increase of 0.3% in civil engineering.

During the first quarter of 2011, the number of units for which new permits were granted increased by 25.4% on account of a 36.2% increase in apartments. This was partly offset by a decline of 16.7% in one dwelling residential buildings.

While new permits for the construction of maisonettes and terraced houses declined by 6.3 and 43.3% respectively, permits for other dwellings increased by 54.5%.