Thousands of French construction jobs may go in 2012
The French construction industry is set to be hard hit in 2012 with the expected loss of 35,000 jobs because of the European economic crisis and government austerity measures, the French Building Federation, FFB, has warned.
Issued on:
The job losses will reverse gains made this year as the industry recovered with 9,000 jobs created after shedding 20,000 jobs in 2010, said FFB head Didier Ridoret.
"The eurozone public debt crisis and budgetary readjustment policies have shattered the economic recovery movement that had brought... a bright spell to our markets," added Ridoret.
The federation expects overall activity in the construction sector to fall 1.9 per cent in 2012, after forecast growth of 1.2 per cent this year.
New residential construction is expected to drop by 2.8 per cent, new non-residential building is to fall by 1.0 per cent and maintenance and renovation works are to drop 1.7 percent.
The French construction sector was worth 123 billion euros in 2010 and employed 1.25 million people.
The FFB represents 57,000 companies in the construction sector.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe