Global construction market output by region 2015

Trillions are spent every year on the buildings, infrastructure, and industrial installations by the global construction sector. In 2015, China’s construction market reached 3.3 trillion U.S. dollars, while North America’s construction sector had a market size of 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars. The construction market in Asia is expected to account for almost half of global construction spending by 2020.

Construction productivity

However, in the past decades, the industry has lost a large amount in value due to low labor productivity. The productivity growth of the construction sector has been comparatively lower than that of the total global economy and the manufacturing industry. Low productivity may be attributable to several reasons, including a highly regulated industry and dependency on public sector demand. The difficulties of the market can bring poor project management and execution, a lack of skill, and inadequate design processes. There are known ways to overcome these barriers, however, it is difficult for individual entities, despite high revenues, to change a traditional system.