Credit crunch latest

The economic downturn will have terrible consequences in Ireland, according to a confidential report revealed by the Irish Independent. The report into construction and contracting, carried out by the employment and training authority FAS, is one of the gloomiest so far, and predicts that a quarter of all construction workers (65,400) will lose their jobs by the end of 2009.

Those set to lose their jobs include: 35,800 craft workers, 9,000 non-craft skilled workers, 10,600 general workers and 2,100 professionals. However, these losses will be accompanied by the creation of up to 20,600 jobs in other areas of construction, including building projects earmarked under the National Development Plan said the report.

Separate research commissioned by Building magazine and carried out by Experian and ConstructionSkills predicts that up to 35,000 people working in the housing sector could lose their jobs in the next two years as the grip of the credit crunch tightens.

It forecasts that employment in the sector is likely to drop from 407,000 to 371,000 between the end of 2007 and 2009, although the actual figure could be even worse, says Building, because the study assumed a 7.2% fall in housing output this year, a prediction made before the market worsened in the last two months.

In related news, Persimmon has told its 5,500 staff that hundreds will lose their jobs in response to the credit crunch and Barratt has warned its subbies to expect workloads to drop off and bills squeezed in coming weeks. 'We have more subcontractors than there is work to do. We will be looking at things on a division-by-division basis in accordance with market conditions,' a spokesman told Construction News.