Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
25,000 involved in mining and quarrying construction materials and a further
100,000 workers selling building materials. In effect this broad approach increases
the significance of construction as the size of the industry virtually doubles in terms
of employment and output. The implications of the contrast between the narrow
and broad definitions will be reviewed further in
Chapter 13,
where we explain the
measurement of economic industry activity in more detail, and in the final reading
where we review Squicciarini and Asikainen's (2011) paper that addresses the
inability of statistical analyses to capture the true scope and impact of construction.
The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building set up a
project to analyse the entirety of the broad construction sector and published its
findings in 2004. The new broad system approach was tested in nine countries
and the project's conclusions confirmed the fact that the construction system as a
whole seems to be roughly twice the size of the conventional construction sector
(Carassus 2004: 190). For example, in Canada it was assessed that the broad
construction cluster employed nearly 1,800,000 people, of which only 900,000
worked in the traditionally defined construction sector. Similarly in France
the whole sector on a broad definition was assessed to be responsible for the
employment of 2,358,000 people, of which 1,600,000 were employed on site as
contractors (Carassus 2004: 45 and 78).
Table 1.5
Sources of international data
The European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC)
www.fiec.org
FIEC was created in 1905 to specifically promote the interests of the construction industry
across Europe. The current membership is made up of 29 countries and 34 national
federations. They represent 3.1 million construction enterprises employing a total of
more than 15 million people. Publications include
Construction Activity in Europe
which
gives a detailed statistical breakdown per member country.
United Nations Statistical Division
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm
This organisation is committed to the advancement of a global statistical system.
Consequently it develops standards and norms for statistical activities, and supports
countries' efforts to strengthen their national statistical systems. Comprehensive sets of
data can be accessed and individual macroeconomic variables can be examined by
selecting countries and years of interest.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
www.oecd.org
The OECD encompasses 30 member countries sharing a commitment to the market
economy (in some quarters the group is referred to as the rich countries club). Its work
covers economic and social issues. Publications include
The OECD Observer.
a journal
covering a number of themes including statistics and sustainable development, and a
series of
Main Economic Indicators
, divided by subject (including construction) and by
country.
Eurostat
www.ec.europa.eu/eurostat
Eurostat provides the European Union with a high quality statistical information service,
and co-operates closely with other international data organisations (such as the UN and
OECD).
The Eurostat Yearbook
is published annually and presents a comprehensive
selection of statistical data covering areas such as labour markets, economy, international
trade, industry, services and the environment (it is freely available online as a pdf file).
