January was a good month for the construction industry (companies employing at least 20 people). There were 10.7% more orders in January this year than in January last year. In structural engineering orders increased by 13.5% and in civil engineering by 7.4%. These figures were officially communicated by the Federal Statistical Office yesterday.
The number of people employed in the construction industry amounted to just 681.000 at the end of January 2008 which is 4000 less than one year earlier (-0.6%). Total turnover generated by this industry was about 4.4 billion Euros in January this year which is a plus of 5.7% in comparison with January 2007. 