|Cyprus Table of Contents Increased economic activity from the
late 1960s, stimulated in part by the second five-year plan,
resulted in a rapid growth of construction, including new urban
and rural housing, commercial establishments, industrial
facilities, tourist accommodations, and government
infrastructure projects. The sector's growth rate averaged 17.5
percent per year in current terms between 1968 and 1972 and rose
to 24.8 percent in 1973. Construction workers numbered 25,000 to
28,600 in the 1968-73 period and constituted about one-tenth of
the island's gainfully employed work force. The construction
industry was hard hit by the Turkish invasion and occupation;
construction by the private sector ceased almost completely. In
1975 the construction work force numbered only about 8,900, or
6.2 percent of persons gainfully employed in the south.
Commercial construction revived in 1976, when the industry, in
response to government policy decisions and actions, began to
build housing for nearly 200,000 refuge