The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has welcomed the figures released from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) which clearly demonstrate the importance of construction to the Irish Economy and shows the continued moderate growth in employment in the construction sector.

An increase of over 17,600 net new workers joined the industry in the last twelve months which shows the continued broad based strength of the industry.

CIF Director General Liam Kelleher stated: "These figures from the CSO demonstrate the continued growth of the construction sector in Ireland and the vibrancy of the Industry. The CIF is confident in the future of the Construction Industry and the continued growth in employment demonstrates clearly the capacity of the Construction Industry to meet the needs of the economy."

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Throughout the last twelve months a total of over 17,600 new jobs were created in the construction industry and these new jobs are spread right throughout the country across all regions. This is a 6.7 per cent increase in the year to the second quarter of 2007 bringing the total number of people working in Construction to over 280,000.

The number of Irish nationals as a percentage of all workers in the Construction Industry stands at almost 87 per cent and of the 17,600 new jobs in the construction industry in the last 12 months, 13,400 went to Irish nationals and 4,200 jobs went to workers from outside Ireland.

"While there has been an undoubted slowdown in the new homes or residential sector, all other sectors of the construction industry continue to expand, most notably civil engineering, general contracting works and the ever increasing repair, maintenance and improvement sector. All the recent indications are that employment growth in the construction industry will continue to moderate," concluded Mr Kelleher.

(JM/SP)