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Tag: Labour Force Survey

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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The figures point to more job losses for construction over the year ahead

The figures point to more job losses for construction over the year ahead

The latest employment figures show construction losing a further 25,000 jobs in the final quarter of last year, following a slight increase in the workforce in the spring and summer. This leaves construction employment down 20,000 on a year ago. Taken from the peak in September 2008, the number employed in construction has fallen by 428,000, roughly 17%. But perhaps of more note is the mix of that workforce. The number of self-employed workers actually increased in the final quarter…

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North East aches while London sees growth in construction jobs

North East aches while London sees growth in construction jobs

Here is a chart that pretty much speaks for itself. It shows the regional change in the level of construction workforce jobs across the UK from before the recession to the summer of this year. Yesterday I looked at the trends in construction employment (a subtly different measure, but broadly similar) and the likely path of job creation/losses. I thought today I might dig into the ONS data and extract numbers for the regions. So I have taken an average of…

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Why job shedding in the UK construction industry may be about to accelerate

Why job shedding in the UK construction industry may be about to accelerate

UK construction industry employed about 57,000 fewer people in the third quarter of this year than a year earlier. That’s a drop of about 2.6%. The ONS data shows that since the peak in September 2007 the fall in the number employed is closer to 380,000. This represents broadly a 15% drop in the workforce. It’s worth noting that these figures are subject to a lot of statistical noise so a few thousand here or there is pretty meaningless. Furthermore…

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Jobs data point to falling construction employment

Jobs data point to falling construction employment

The latest jobs data from the Office for National Statistics support the widely held view that construction employment is falling. And, given that employment data tends to lag output data, we should then expect to see further, perhaps more significant, falls in the number employed in construction in the relatively near future.

Construction employment falls despite growth in self employment

Construction employment falls despite growth in self employment

For many economists and commentators the employment data released today by the Office for National Statistics were better than expected. The figures hint at a few more people employed and a few fewer unemployed people across the economy, if we look at the seasonally adjusted data. But compared with a year ago the number of people employed is pretty much the same, given the potential for errors inevitable in such data.

Construction employment holds up in 2011 – but fears remain over job prospects

Construction employment holds up in 2011 – but fears remain over job prospects

The latest national jobs figures may well provide some comfort for those in construction as they show that the level of employment held up last year. The number of jobs stood at 2,052,000 on the workforce jobs by industry count. And employment on the Labour Force Survey count stood at 2,165,000. Given the margins of error in the surveys the broad picture, as we see from graph 1, is of a flat jobs market in construction for the best part of…

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No sign in the data that construction employment is plunging again – not yet anyway

No sign in the data that construction employment is plunging again – not yet anyway

There is no getting away from the fact that the latest UK jobs figures are depressing. There’ll be plenty of discussion about that in the general news. And it bodes ill for the economy overall and in turn for construction. But for those looking for gloom in the construction jobs figures, the data does not seem to support the view that employment levels are once again plunging. The quarterly workforce jobs figures were not updated this month. But the alternative Labour…

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Pre-recession construction industry 7% bigger than we thought – statistically speaking anyway

Pre-recession construction industry 7% bigger than we thought – statistically speaking anyway

Lost in the confusion caused by the adding up error made by the ONS in the original release last week of the construction output figures was one rather significant change to the data series. In rough and ready terms the post-recession construction industry is now officially almost 7% bigger than we used to think it was. Meanwhile, the collapse in construction between early 2008 and early 2010 is now officially calculated to be 16.0% rather than 13.7%.