Statistics also reveal that employment in the construction industry has fallen by 26, 000 from a high of 84, 000 in 2007.

BBC: Construction Employers Federation decry fall in NI jobs

It is quite possible that the economy is stronger than the official statistics suggest: in fact, we already know that construction and industrial output were stronger in June than the ONS expected when they came up with their first estimate for the change in GDP in the second quarter.

BBC: UK jobs: The plot thickens

They say the labour trends are hard to square with other statistics, logging decidedly poor growth performances in key sectors such as construction and finance.

BBC: Alex Salmond's Plan Macb

According to its calculations, the construction industry contributed 8.5% to GDP in 2008 (the Office of National Statistics weighting is a more modest 6.1% of GDP).

ECONOMIST: Building firms are struggling to emerge from the recession

Construction output rose by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

BBC: Cranes in London

The total number of houses and apartments approved for construction fell a seasonally adjusted 7.8% in February from January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

WSJ: Australia Housing to Drag on Growth

Arguments against the construction of KeystoneXL hinge almost completely on ideological rhetoric that has been consistently addressed and disproven by both historical operating statistics and forward-looking analyses by bodies ranging from the State Department to the Department of Energy.

FORBES: Pipeline Infrastructure: Rhetoric v. Reality