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Tag: employment figures

Construction firms axe jobs ahead of double-dip downturn

Construction firms axe jobs ahead of double-dip downturn

The number of jobs in the construction industry fell by 17,000 in the third quarter of this year despite the continued swell in work resulting from the now fading effects of the economic stimulus. Indeed the rather lacklustre set of labour market figures released today may well be read by some as an early sign of momentum fading in the economy at large. Certainly the drop in construction job numbers will lead many to suspect that firms are already trimming…

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Jobs scene a little brighter today – but what does the future hold?

Jobs scene a little brighter today – but what does the future hold?

The rate of construction redundancies in the third quarter of this year returned closer to pre-recession levels with “just” 18,000 employees recorded as being made redundant in the three months July to September. And if we didn’t know what we do know about the future we might suggest that the latest employment figures taken as a whole provide reasons to be positive. Across the economy as a whole, more people have jobs, fewer are unemployment and the claimant count is…

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10 things that might be causing weirdness in the construction output figures

10 things that might be causing weirdness in the construction output figures

Can we accept unquestioned the construction figures presented by the latest preliminary estimate of UK economic growth? To do so is to accept that construction is enjoying workloads at a level that just three years ago were close to pushing the industry’s capacity to its limits. What’s more the rate of growth being enjoyed by construction – 14% or so over six months – is seen by many who follow the numbers as astonishing and for some incredible. But before launching…

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A 53,000 jump in construction workforce, but the jobs data make a mockery of output stats

A 53,000 jump in construction workforce, but the jobs data make a mockery of output stats

The good news is that construction found room for 53,000 more people among its workforce in the second quarter of this year as workload bounced back. The bad news is that if construction jumped in volume terms (not seasonally adjusted) by 13.3%, as the official data suggest, 53,000 is not a very impressive improvement in the employment figures at all – representing a rise of just 2.5%. So what does this all mean? Well this is yet further evidence that the…

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Did construction really propel the UK economy this spring?

Did construction really propel the UK economy this spring?

I have just spent a gruelling chunk of the morning trying to square the GDP figures with the construction output figures, dogged by a mild hangover and a glitch in the numbers. I hadn’t intended to dive into the figures until a bit later, but I took a “have you seen the figures?” call this morning and so was obliged to get the brain in gear a shade earlier than it felt necessary. The thing is that a huge slice…

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More than 300,000 construction jobs axed so far in this recession

More than 300,000 construction jobs axed so far in this recession

Construction lost 63,000 jobs in the first quarter of this year and has shed more than 300,000 since the recession bit hard after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. The latest employment figures are based on a slightly different assessment of the industry (Standard Industrial Classification 2007 is used) and paint an even gloomy picture of the trajectory of construction jobs than did the previous series (see graph). At peak in September 2008 the statisticians now reckon there were 2,364,000…

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Are we on the edge of a second house price crash?

Are we on the edge of a second house price crash?

The big question after today’s release of the Halifax house price index is whether the market is heading for a protracted decline or whether prices will stabilise and hold or continue to creep up from the trough of a year or so ago. It must be said that today’s figures, which show the third in a straight set of monthly declines, fit the pattern expected given the recent movement in what might be regarded as leading indicators for house prices….

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Construction will not come out unscathed from Osborne’s Budget, but it could’ve been worse

Construction will not come out unscathed from Osborne’s Budget, but it could’ve been worse

Given the potential for increased pain in the gift of George Osborne there will be a feeling that construction hasn’t come out as badly as it might have from the emergency Budget. But “unavoidably”, as Chancellor Osborne might say, the construction industry will have to share some of the pain for the folly of the banks as the nation seeks to balance its budget. There will however have been a great deal of relief when the Chancellor said that capital spending…

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Better than expected, but pre-Budget forecast will not spare construction’s pain

Better than expected, but pre-Budget forecast will not spare construction’s pain

There was a widespread view, stoked in part by the new incumbent at No 11 Downing Street, suggesting that the first output from the newly established Office for Budget Responsibility would most likely reveal the public sector debt to be far greater than we had been led to believe. Understandably this miffed the ex-Chancellor Alistair Darling who quite rightly was irritated at the suggestion he was a smoke and mirrors merchant. Well, now it would seem that if he had been…

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Construction redundancies remain high while vacancies remain low

Construction redundancies remain high while vacancies remain low

As the real business of governing the UK begins to wind up again, the latest employment figures will do little to cheer the incoming government as it prepares to put chalk marks on where deep public sector cuts will be made. The overall figures showed the rise of unemployment continuing above the 2.5 million mark. But equally as worrying is the swelling number of part-time workers that is hiding a bubble of underemployment. Over the first quarter of this year…

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