FIEC Newsletter – 18 Ιουνίου 2019

“Although the situation continues to vary from one country to the other, the overall picture is currently positive, with activity in new housebuilding even booming in several countries.” said FIEC President Kjetil Tonning, presenting construction’s annual statistics. “In 2018, overall construction output in the EU amounted to €1,427 billion, which represents 9.0% of EU GDP and an increase of 3.5% compared to 2017.” reported Tonning.The level of employment in the construction industry increased again in 2018 (+1.8%). Altogether, construction provides jobs for 14.8 million people – working in more than 3.3 million companies – which represents 6.4% of Europe’s total employment. Against this backdrop, in several countries, the shortage in skilled labour is already seen as an obstacle for the sector’s future growth.

During a vote that took place in the margins of the EPSCO Council (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs) meeting on 13 June, Bratislava was selected as the seat of the future European Labour Authority (ELA). The capital of Slovakia received 15 votes out of 28.

The aim of this new body is to support compliance and coordination between member states in the enforcement of EU legal acts in the areas of labour mobility and social security coordination. It will also provide access to information for individuals and employers in cross-border labour mobility situations.

FIEC has joined forces with a number of other relevant industry associations in a joint document containing proposals for the follow-up programme to the European Commission’s “Construction 2020” initiative.

Speaking about the common vision in the document, FIEC President Kjetil Tonning said “As we are collaborating more than ever with other federations in the construction value chain, it is only natural that we have worked together over recent months, to produce a document, with proposals from our industry, that have been agreed by all the participating federations. We will continue this collaboration with our commitment to support the European Commission in its implementation of these proposals and we are optimistic that they will be included in the programme that succeeds Construction 2020”.