Engineering construction activity down

CanaData statistics suggest that the party might be over for consulting engineers. Engineering construction activity in Canada has taken a steep dive compared to last year. Engineering construction starts were 77% down in dollar terms, and construction activity as a whole was down 45%. By April the figure was less depressing, standing at 33% down from the same period last year for all construction activity. Trend figures for the past six years show a very sharp decline in engineering activity from a high at the beginning of 2000.
Alex Carrick, an economist with CanaData, the statistics arm of CMD Group in Toronto, attributes most of the recent drop in activity to a fall-off in major oil and gas projects, and a slowdown in industrial building in the automotive sector. As well, he says, suburban office building for the high tech sector has been hit by the losses on the stock market in those businesses.