Goodrum, P M; Haas, C T and Glover, R W (2002) The divergence in aggregate and activity estimates of US construction productivity. Construction Management and Economics, 20(5), pp. 415-423. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
Discrepancies exist between aggregate and activity productivity measurements in the US construction industry. Multiple studies using aggregate industry measures suggest that construction productivity has declined over the long term. A longstanding problem with the aggregate measures concerns the difficulty of controlling for inflation so as to accurately measure real output. As an alternative, average activity productivity, measured by individual work activities, indicates that construction productivity has increased over the same time period. Activity measurement data have been collected for 200 construction activities over a 22-year time period from commercial estimation manuals used by contractors and owners to estimate the cost and time requirements for construction. This paper examines the discrepancies between aggregate and activity measurements and suggests possible reasons for their existence.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction industry; labour; productivity; trends; USA |
| Index terms: | inflation, construction industry, construction productivity, estimate, estimation, aggregate, construction activity, productivity, owner |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, sociology, management, construction operations, financial and cost management, economic analysis, operations management, materials science |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here