One in four construction workers facing unemployment

Situation in Greater Helslnki area is if anyhting worse than in the country as a whole

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As a result of the global recession, the construction of non-subsidized housing came to a standstill in the Greater Helsinki area last autumn.
      Since September, the construction of only 114 privately-financed apartments has been started in the entire country. The number corresponds to approximately three apartment blocks.
      However, the recession in the building sector is even worse in the Greater Helsinki area. Over the period from October to February, not a single privately-financed housing unit has been initiated in the capital region.
      Moreover, the current situation is not expected to improve, as new residences do not sell well at the moment.
     
According to a survey commissioned by Rakennuslehti, the largest trade magazine in the building sector in Finland, a total of 2,780 new building units were for sale in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa at the end of February.
      If the sales of homes do not pick up, it will take three years to sell the units currently available. In other parts of Finland, the number of new residences for sale is sufficient for 20 months, according to the magazine.
     
The first to face the recession in the building sector have been the employees. Of the 60,000 members of the unemployment fund of the Finnish Construction Trade Union, already around 14,000 are jobless.
      ”The number of unemployed construction workers will exceed 15,000 by the end of the current month”, predicts Matti Harjuniemi, the Chairman of the Finnish Construction Trade Union.
      According to Tarmo Pipatti, the Director General of the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (RT), the situation does not look likely to improve any time soon, while increasing numbers of employees can expect to lose their jobs.
     
Based on a RT estimate, the construction sector employs approximately 180,000 people.
      ”If the volume of construction declines by half in the course of the current year - which is entirely possible - the number of unemployed construction workers would be 119,000”, Pipatti estimates.
      So far workers in the concrete and prefabricated industry have been hit hardest, with 70 per cent of them already unemployed.


Links:
  Skanska
  The Finnish Construction Trade Union
  The Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (RT)

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