Record amount of construction
LAURA SLATTERY
A DROUGHT of new construc-
tion projects led to a record rate of
layoffs in the troubled sector last
month, the latest survey of
building firms indicates.
The Ulster Bank construction
purchasing managers' index
shows that the mood among
builders continues to darken, with
the rate of decline in staffing levels
accelerating for the fifth month in
a row and higher oil prices causing
a sharp increase in the cost of
related building materials.
New business, employment
rates and expectations for the
future all plummeted in July.
Increases in commercial and civil
engineering activity meant the
overall index rose slightly on
June's record low, but at a value of
31.3, activity in the sector is still
far below the 50 mark that sepa-
rates growth from contraction.
The once-booming housing
sector continued to drag down
overall construction activity.
Ulster Bank economist Pat
McArdle said the sharp fall in
employment confirmed anecdotal
evidence of significant layoffs in
the run-up to the builders' annual
summer holidays, adding that the
situation was likely to get worse
before it gets better.
"The fact that new business also
recorded a record low means that
further falls in activity and employ-
ment are likely," said Mr McArdle.
The Central Statistics
Office
(CSO) publishes its construction
employment index for the month
of June on Friday. The latest index
shows a 15 per cent year-on-year
decline in construction jobs.
In more evidence of the extent
of the sector's collapse, machinery
auctioneers Ganly Craigie said yes-
terday that the amount of construc-
tion equipment being auctioned
off has more than doubled in the
last six months, as builders hit by
the recession are forced to close.
Ganly Craigie owner Robert
sector lay-offs
Craigie said its intake of construc-
tion machinery has jumped 125
around 70
per cent, attributing
per cent of the increase to bank
repossessions of assets from col-
lapsed firms.
Ganly Craigie, based in Naas,
Co Kildare, usually holds auctions
every six weeks selling off
machinery, ranging from tractors
to mini-diggers and excavators.
But while Irish builders are
folding, Mr Craigie said auction-
eers are not having any problem
shifting the equipment primarily
because of the rising market in
eastern Europe. "The last auction
we had there were about 800
people down at it which is about
twice the norm," he said.
"There is a huge export market
to eastern Europe, which wasn't
there the year before. Poland has
come on stream, Russia has come
on stream, Romania, Latvia,
Lithuania. It's going out as fast as
it's coming in." - (Additional
reporting: PA)