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Tag: economy

Construction jobs figures provide reasons for hope and signals for action on training

Construction jobs figures provide reasons for hope and signals for action on training

It’s only one quarter’s figures and we should be cautious of statistical quirks, oddities such as last year’s Jubilympics and weather effects, but there is more promise in the latest construction jobs figures than might have been expected. Certainly the generally improved mood will mean that firms are more willing to hold onto quality people than they might have been. And there is a hint of this in the figures which show a small drop in the numbers, but an…

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Has the Government found a cure for the disease afflicting the housing market?

Has the Government found a cure for the disease afflicting the housing market?

The short answer to the question in the headline is no. The slightly longer answer requires a question: It depends what you mean by the housing market? But, as that sounds like obfuscation, the most honest answer I can come up with is that while the housing market may appear to be in remission the disease is spreading. I say this because we’ve had such a welter of “good news” on the housing front recently that you’d could be forgiven…

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Is the recent surge in brick deliveries a sign of rapid growth in house building?

Is the recent surge in brick deliveries a sign of rapid growth in house building?

Today’s release of what are fairly obscure figures to most people show brick stocks plunging to the lowest level since the 1980s and a surge in deliveries comparing the latest quarter with a year ago. A rise of 16% year to year should be something to write home about, shouldn’t it? This apparent boost to production must be of interest to the armies of economists and commentators keen to spot potential effects that can be tracked back to the Help…

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The revolution will not be strategised

The revolution will not be strategised

Last week two reports came out with similar names but very different purposes. But they deserve comment and consideration together. On the Monday Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics launched its report Global Construction 2025, a global forecast for the construction industry to 2025. The following day the Government unveiled the Construction 2025: industrial strategy for construction – government and industry in partnership. Most of the similarities and differences will be pretty obvious on reading, so let’s take them as…

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Signs of recovery and the cost of missed opportunities in the housing market

Signs of recovery and the cost of missed opportunities in the housing market

The latest housing market data all point to a recovery. Mortgage approvals measured over three months are at a three-year high. Prices are rising. Sales are more buoyant. Starts appear to be on the way up. Indeed more positive wider economic news of late no doubt has helped underpin a sense of confidence, while the periodic scares from the Euro area seem to create less fear each time they come into focus and fade again. The improved housing statistics should…

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It’s worrying that we are losing construction jobs. But equally disturbing is the loss of capacity

It’s worrying that we are losing construction jobs. But equally disturbing is the loss of capacity

The latest ONS labour market figures showing workforce jobs in construction pretty much mirror expectations with a drop of 53,000 from the 2012 Q1 to 2013 Q1. This is pretty much in line with the employment figures published last month which showed a fall of 41,000 over the same period. Interestingly the brunt of the more recent losses appears to have been taken by the self-employed, which had been significantly less impacted through most of the recessionary period since 2008….

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Latest new orders figures provide little to be cheery about

Latest new orders figures provide little to be cheery about

The latest construction new orders figures from the Office for National Statistics provide little comfort for an industry seemingly trapped in a long running slump. Look through the volatility and we see a new stability, so things don’t appear to be getting much worse. But the level of new orders won is running at about two thirds of peak. What makes this disturbing is that it the volume of orders being won has been about the same level for the…

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Why jobs in construction are increasingly valuable for the UK and should be nurtured

Why jobs in construction are increasingly valuable for the UK and should be nurtured

A few weeks ago I received a request from Dan Earley a quantity surveying student asking for a comment on training and development within the construction industry. I was delighted to help, in part because it prompted me to write some words that had been sitting in my head for some while. I had meant to post the comment on this blog, but it slipped from my memory and down the pile in the guilt tray. Yesterday’s fantastic ONS release…

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The cost to construction of false optimism

The cost to construction of false optimism

For the past five years this blog has been perceived as a purveyor of doom and gloom and sometimes criticised for being so. I part jokingly retort that I may be gloomy, but I tend to be out-gloomed by reality. Here’s my take in 2008. There is plenty of scope I see now to have been gloomier than I was and not have been unreasonable as things have panned out. But this post does not concern who was right or…

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Punch drunk construction finds a prop in rich investors in London housing

Punch drunk construction finds a prop in rich investors in London housing

Yes folks the construction industry is partying like it was 1999. Sounds like fun, but sadly it means that all the growth achieved this century has been wiped out. And while we metaphorically vomit into the punch bowl, here’s a thought to sober us up. If it wasn’t for rich foreign and indeed rich British investors pumping cash into London residential property the construction industry would probably be closing in on a drop of nearer to a quarter from peak…

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