8500 BUILDING SITE WORKERS GIVEN THE BOOT; Labour blame Nat cuts for slump.Byline: Katrine Bussey ABOUT 8500 building workers lost their jobs in the first eight months of this year, a leading industry body said yesterday. A survey for the Scottish Building Federation found that, on average, firms had reduced their construction workforce by four per cent since the beginning of 2009. Labour finance spokesman Andy Kerr This article is about the Scottish politician. For the football and basketball coach, see Andrew Kerr (coach). Andy Kerr (born 17 March 1962, East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire) is a Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament for East Kilbride constituency, a seat blamed the SNP SNP Scottish National Party Noun 1. SNP - (genetics) genetic variation in a DNA sequence that occurs when a single nucleotide in a genome is altered; SNPs are usually considered to be point mutations that have been evolutionarily for the job losses. The MSP (1) (Management Service Provider or Managed Service Provider) An organization that manages a customer's computer systems and networks which are either located on the customer's premises or at a third-party datacenter. said: "The slump Slump A temporary fall in performance, often describing consistently falling security prices for several weeks or months. in the construction industry is deeper than it would otherwise have been, and more jobs have been lost, because the SNP have turned off the tap of public sector investment. "The SNP have cost the Scottish economy nearly pounds 2billion of investment since they came to power." The findings come after research last year found an eight per cent reduction in the sector's workforce - the equivalent of 20,000 jobs. The latest survey found 51 per cent of firms who responded had made redundancies since the start of 2009, while only 14 per cent said they had recruited more workers. SBF SBF Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Franciscan School of Biblical Investigations; Jerusalem, Israel) SBF Small Block Ford (automotive engine) SBF Single Black Female SBF Société des Bourses Francaises chief executive Michael Levack said a significant number of construction companies are "genuinely fearful that things may yet get worse before they get better". Levack spoke as the SBF published the results of their latest quarterly Scottish Construction Monitor. They surveyed 83 firms and found confidence in the industry improved only marginally on the previous quarter. And 59 per cent of firms were less confident about their prospects for the next 12 months compared with the previous year. Levack said: "Clearly, the picture across the industry is not uniformly negative. "A minority of firms are weathering the economic downturn well and taking on more workers. "But the fact remains, the recession has forced a majority of Scottish building firms to lay people off since the beginning of this year. Investments "Many of the job losses we've identified will go unrecorded in official redundancy figures as those workers made redundant find alternative work in other industries. "But 8500 fewer workers in the Scottish building sector equates to a significant loss of skills and capacity, which will make it harder for the industry to recover in the longer term." He called on ministers to do all they can to maintain a consistent flow of work. He said: "As we make the first tentative steps towards recovery, government needs to understand that we're not out of the woods yet. "We badly need continued government support for capital investment to stem an ongoing tide of redundancies." CAPTION(S): ANGRY: Andy Kerr LAY-OFFS: Recession has hit building firms hard |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion