LONDON: Latest figures on employment show the true cost of the recession on the construction sector.
Figures for the final quarter of last year show 8000 jobs lost from construction, compared to the previous three months, taking the total losses in the workforce to just over two million.
Since the peak in September 2008, nearly 250 000 jobs have been lost in construction: one in 10 of the total workforce at that time.
Housebuilders have seized on the latest job figures and have called for a stimulus package in this week's Budget to include the release of public sector land, help for first-time buyers and solutions to the mortgage 'famine'.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the House Builders Federation, said: "This is a critical budget for the Government if it is serious about its commitment to increase housing supply and boost the economy.
"Housebuilding can be a crucial driver in creating jobs and investment. By tackling the record low levels of construction and our current housing crisis we could create 200 000 jobs a year.
"For this to happen, we need to see action taken to increase mortgage lending – especially to first-time buyers – more public land being made available and a real reduction in regulation," he said.
