The Sector Skills Council (SSC) highlights that whilst the Northern Ireland construction industry has continued to underperform compared to the rest of the UK, there is a slight growth in output and employment predicted throughout the forecast period.
The CSN report, delivered in conjunction with construction employers across the UK, with a significant input from NI employers, shows that the annual average output in NI is projected to expand at a rate of 2.1% over the five years to 2016, a stronger rate than for the UK as a whole (1.4%). However the industry in the province will be recovering from a much steeper drop in output than the UK as a whole (31% compared with 16%).
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Barry Neilson, Chief Executive CITB-ConstructionSkills NI, said: "The past few years have been really tough for the construction sector but as the CSN forecasts show there will be a slight growth in output for NI. As output in the NI construction industry had declined significantly over recent years it is promising to see growth forecasted over the five year period. Despite the predicted growth in output over the forecast period, output in the construction industry in NI will not have reached its 2007-8 level and so in five years time we will still not have achieved full recovery."
Employment in the local construction sector is projected to slowly grow at an annual average rate of 1.3% between 2012-2016. This is a better rate than the UK as a whole (0.6% per annum) but as with output, employment in the construction industry in NI is recovering from a much greater fall from its peak in 2007 than in the UK (28% compared with 10%). With a tentative recovery in private sector housing expected to begin in 2012 and the impact of Programme for Government the CSN data estimates that the industry in NI will have an average annual recruitment requirement of 1,170 to complete planned projects over the forecast period.
(CD/GK)
