EU construction requires boost

At the recent annual congress of the 6164 European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), the body released its latest annual statistical report. According to FIEC vice president Jacques Huillard total construction output amounted to €1,186 billion in 2010, which represents a decline of 1.8% compared to 2009." Huillard is in charge of economic issues at the FIEC and continued, "Due to member states' severe budgetary constraints and the major crisis affecting the euro zone and impacting the investment capacity of private operators, the situation remains worrying in most EU countries, but we can see the first signs of recovery, which should give us hope. Also, it is clear that the EU and national stimulus packages have softened the downturn to some degree. According to FIEC's statistics, a further decrease has been experienced by the civil engineering segment. This dropped 1.1%, while a recovery in 2010 was forecast last year. EU employment in construction fell further by 5.8% in 2010, and a further decrease is expected in 2011. Despite these still weak figures, the construction industry remains one of the major engines of Europe's growth. It still represents nearly 10% of EU GDP and above 3 million enterprises and provides jobs to nearly 14 million workers, without counting the indirect employment generated in related sectors. "Looking ahead, total construction output is forecast to stabilise in 2011 (-0.2%)", added Huillard, "However, we must remain extremely vigilant: most of these stimulus packages have been insufficient to ensure a real and sustained revival of economic activity and a number of measures announced have finally not been implemented."