Construction employment levels According to OECD data, the construction sector accounts for 6.8% of the UK workforce (Figure 73). This is marginally higher than the average for the EU28 and other major countries such as the United States (6.6%), France (6.5%), Italy (6.3%) and Germany (5.6%). Figure 73: Construction employment levels in OECD countries Source: SQW analysis of OECD data International benchmarking In a recent report, McKinsey estimated the current value of the global construction industry to be around US$10 trillion, which accounts for around 13% of global GDP. McKinsey expect that the sector will grow to US$14 trillion by 2025. The McKinsey research highlights a long-standing issue of poor productivity growth in the construction industry. It states that construction sector labour-productivity growth averaged on per cent a year over the past two decades, compared with 2.8 per cent for the total world economy and 3.6 per cent for manufacturing. It is argued that if construction labour productivity could catch up with the progress made by other sectors over the past 20 years or with the total economy, this could increase the construction industry’s value added by $1.6 trillion a year. The bubble diagram below (Figure 74) summarises the performance of different construction markets, with the size of bubble indicating the total output of the sector (showing China and the US to be the largest markets). On the two axes, it also shows productivity growth in each country (again showing China experiencing high annual growth) and actual output per hour worked. The UK appears to be performing relatively well in terms of growth, output per worker and size of total output. It appears in the top quadrant of ‘outperformers’ along with Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, Germany and Australia.
Construction employment levels According to OECD data, the construction sector accounts for 6.8% of the UK workforce (Figure 73). This is marginally higher than the average for the EU28 and other major countries such as the United States (6.6%), France (6.5%), Italy (6.3%) and Germany (5.6%). Figure 73: Construction employment levels in OECD countries Source: SQW analysis of OECD data International benchmarking In a recent report, McKinsey estimated the current value of the global construction industry to be around US$10 trillion, which accounts for around 13% of global GDP. McKinsey expect that the sector will grow to US$14 trillion by 2025. The McKinsey research highlights a long-standing issue of poor productivity growth in the construction industry. It states that construction sector labour-productivity growth averaged on per cent a year over the past two decades, compared with 2.8 per cent for the total world economy and 3.6 per cent for manufacturing. It is argued that if construction labour productivity could catch up with the progress made by other sectors over the past 20 years or with the total economy, this could increase the construction industry’s value added by $1.6 trillion a year. The bubble diagram below (Figure 74) summarises the performance of different construction markets, with the size of bubble indicating the total output of the sector (showing China and the US to be the largest markets). On the two axes, it also shows productivity growth in each country (again showing China experiencing high annual growth) and actual output per hour worked. The UK appears to be performing relatively well in terms of growth, output per worker and size of total output. It appears in the top quadrant of ‘outperformers’ along with Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, Germany and Australia.
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