"Confidence in the construction sector is now lower than the four year post-recession average, reflecting the poor performance of the sector in the final month of 2012"
- David Noble, chief executive officer at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply
The U.K. construction sector and the economy itself are facing a prolonged recovery period, after the economy was hit by the global slowdown, cuts to public as well as private spending in all major sectors of the industry, the Construction Skills Network report said Wednesday. In 2012 sector lost 60,000 jobs, while the output tumbled 9%, suggesting the sector will not recover its pre-recession peak level of output until 2022. By the end of 2017, it is expected that the sector will be 12% below its 2007 peak, while construction output is projected to grow by less than 1% a year over the next five years to 2017. In the meantime, construction sector contributes to the nation's gross domestic product by around 8% and employs nearly 2.5 million workers across its supply chain.
"Confidence in the construction sector is now lower than the four year post-recession average, reflecting the poor performance of the sector in the final month of 2012," David Noble, chief executive officer at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply said earlier in January.
"Construction found itself at the heart of a perfect storm in 2012," said Judy Lowe, deputy director of CITB-ConstructionSkills, the industry training body that put the report together.
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