Press Release 12/05/2021

CONSTRUCTION SURVEY. 2019

In 2019, Construction employed 6% of all people in work in the Basque Country, almost 63,200 people

Building Construction and Electrical Installations, Plumbing and Other Installations generated half of value added and jobs in the sector

In 2019, the number of jobs in the Construction sector in Basque Country reached 63,173, or 6% of total employment, according to Eustat data. In absolute figures, this is a gain of just over 2,500 net jobs compared to the previous year, or 4.1% more in percentage terms. This continues the upward trend started in 2017 and exceeds the 3.1% growth observed in 2018.

At the provincial level, the largest relative gains were recorded in Álava and Bizkaia, which saw near-identical increases of 4.5% and 4.6%, respectively. In Gipuzkoa, it increased 3.3% in year-on-year terms.

Owing to their size, the subsectors that employed the most people were Electrical Installations, Plumbing and Other Installations, with 19,442 jobs (30.8%); Finishing Works, with 15,852 jobs (25.1%); and Building Construction, with 11,860 people in work (18.8%). Almost 75% of the total number of people in work were employed in these three subsectors. In 2019, the trend was fairly similar. The Installations subsector led with 3.9% growth, followed by the 3.0% recorded in Building Construction and, lastly, 2.3% in the finishing works subsector.

This positive trend was seen in all employment strata, though to greatly varying extents. The largest gain in relative terms occurred in the stratum of large establishments with more than 20 employees, which grew in size by 8.4%. This employment stratum, with 16,331 people, accounted for 25.9% of total employment in the Construction sector. The stratum of 1 to 19 people also grew significantly, albeit to a lesser degree, by 4%, employing almost half of the total, 49%. Lastly, the stratum of self-employed people without salaried workers, which accounted for 25% of total employment, barely changed, with 0.4% growth.

It is worth noting that, in 2019, 8.8% of people employed in the construction sector were women. This is almost one percentage point less than in 2018 (9.7%) and 4.4 percentage points less than in 2010, when the highest proportion of women working in the sector was recorded, at 13.2%.

Turnover increased by 2% in the Basque Country. It rose by 4.8% in Álava, 1.8% in Gipuzkoa and finally, by 1.4% in Bizkaia

In 2019, the net turnover figure for companies in the construction sector, 9,466 million euros, increased by 2.0% in the Basque Country as a whole. This was far short of the growth recorded in 2018 (12.7%), but it was the second consecutive year of positive figures following an accumulated series of nine years of negative growth.

Broken down by province, in Álava the sector turned over 1,335 million euros – 13.8% of the total value in the Basque Country, with growth of 4.8% compared to the previous year, the highest of the three provinces. In Gipuzkoa – with 3,496 million euros and 36.2% of the total – and in Bizkaia – with 4,825 million euros and 50% of the total – turnover increased by 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively.

The 2% increase in turnover in the sector as a whole was the result of diverging trends in this variable across the different employment strata. In the highest stratum, that of 20 or more employees, it increased significantly, by 17.6%, and in the lowest stratum, that of self-employed people without salaried workers, it fell by 3.1%. However, the stratum of 1 to 19 employees saw a 5% reduction in turnover in 2019. With these variations, the stratum of 1 to 19 employees accounted for 59.5% of total turnover, the stratum of 20 employees or more accounted for 32.6% and the stratum without salaried workers took up the remaining 7.9%.

Personnel costs increased by 6.6% in the Basque Country, and by 5.9% in Gipuzkoa, 6.8% in Bizkaia and 7.7% in Álava.

Value added in the construction sector, which represents the contribution of labour and capital to the production process, increased by 3.4% in 2019 to 3,218 million euros, following growth of 5.3% in Álava, 4.1% in Bizkaia and 1.5% in Gipuzkoa.

Property Development, with 165,000 euros per person, was the sector with the highest productivity

Considering the different activity groups within construction and the generation of value added at factor cost, Electrical Installations, Plumbing and Other Installations activities stood out, accounting for 30.8% of jobs and generating 26.9% of total value added. If we add to this the figures for employment in Building Construction (18.8% of the total) and the value added generated (20.2%), this accounts for almost half of the value added at factor cost and half of total employment in the construction sector.

Among the remaining activity groups with greatest weight in employment, the following groups stand out: Finishing Works, with 25.1% of jobs and 16.8% of value added of the sector total, and particularly Property Development. This group accounted for only 3.9% of total employment, but generated 12.6% of the total gross value added for the construction sector. This activity group therefore registered the highest productivity per person. While the average productivity in the sector was 51,000 euros, the average for Property Development stood at 165,000 euros. The activity group with the second most value added was Construction of Roads, Railways, Bridges and Tunnels, with 66,000 euros per person. Finishing Works recorded the lowest productivity per person, with 34,000 euros.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62