Employment in the construction sector grew for the fourth month in a row in May, according to figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The data shows that the construction workforce expanded by 0.7 per cent in the year to the end of May. The growth follows comparable annual increases in the previous three months. The employment index shrank for 12 consecutive months in 2002.
A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), however, was reluctant to herald the advent of a new construction boom.
Most of the expansion in the year to date has been fuelled by housing completions, with the remainder of the industry much less buoyant, he said.
Data from the Department of the Environment show that housing completions in the first quarter were almost 15 per cent up on the same period in 2002.
New housing accounts for slightly more than one-third of the Irish construction market, with the balance comprised of civil engineering, repair and maintenance and general contracting.
The CIF spokesman predicted that overall activity would drop by at least 5 per cent this year.
Research published yesterday by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has forecast that employment in the construction sector will grow by about 1.1 per cent each year until 2005. However, from 2015-2020, the ESRI foresees annual shrinkage of more than 5 per cent in employment as residential building eases and infrastructural investment is completed.
