COVID-19 will affect Canadian construction labour demand: Asite

NEW YORK CITY — Consulting firm Asite has launched a new research report into trends set to impact the construction industry globally in 2020.

The report examines the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic and considers how this will affect the industry in the coming 12 months.

The collapsing price of oil and the impacts of COVID-19 are set to change predictions that the North America market, in particular Canada, would witness a growing labour demand, stated a release. The increase was linked to major public transportation and infrastructure, utility, liquefied natural gas, pipeline and health services projects country-wide. However, Canada is now seeing a decline in demand for workers.

Despite the setback, markets are expected to bounce back, Asite said. There are positive signs that the energy market’s project pipeline is growing.

The smart city platform market is expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent between 2020 and 2025. North America is already the leading region in the area. Asite predicts the dominance will continue and grow as the adoption of smart building technologies becomes common practice in the U.S. with future focus on transportation and energy.

Construction in the U.S. was expected to have compound growth of 2.22 per cent by 2022. The growth is set to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of a promised government stimulus package. The sector is witnessing a steady increase in project stoppages, which will affect the industry overall.

“When we began our research, we could not have known how drastically the world would change in such a short time,” said Asite CEO Nathan Doughty in the release. “This change and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted our findings and will continue to shape our industry long after the pandemic has passed.”

Asite noted the infrastructure and construction industries were projected to experience a boom in the coming five years, with Asia forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent by 2023. COVID-19 will impact this growth as site closures across the region result in completion delays. Although sites are beginning to reopen, the initial issues will affect the industry.