A sample survey carried out among construction enterprises revealed that employment fell by 7.4 per cent, wages and salaries by 6.5 per cent and hours worked by 6.6 per cent when compared to the first quarter last year.

Year-on-year data reveal that employment in construction activities fell by 7.4 per cent, on account of declines in employment in the construction of buildings (-10.4 per cent), in civil engineering (-1.4 per cent) and in specialised construction activities (-5.1 per cent).

A drop of 6.5 per cent was registered for wages and salaries resulting from declines of 9.0 per cent in respect of construction of building activities, 4.2 per cent in civil engineering and 4.1 per cent in specialised construction activities.

During the first quarter of 2011, hours worked decreased by 6.6 per cent when compared to the same quarter last year. Hours worked in the construction of buildings and specialised construction activities fell by 11.6 and 1.0 per cent respectively. Mitigating this effect was a slight increase of 0.3 per cent in civil engineering.

Residential units for which new permits have been granted During the first quarter of 2011, the number of units for which new permits were granted increased by 25.4 per cent on account of a 36.2 per cent increase in apartments. This was partly offset by a decline of 16.7 per cent in one dwelling residential buildings.

While new permits for the construction of maisonettes and terraced houses declined by 6.3 and 43.3 per cent respectively, permits for other dwellings increased by 54.5 per cent.

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