Title: Quantitative evaluation of labour costs for the Chinese construction industry based on a comprehensive index system

Authors: Guiwen Liu; Yanbo Diao

Addresses: Department of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Shapingba, Chongqing, China ' Department of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Shapingba, Chongqing, China

Abstract: Chinese construction companies have experienced dramatic rises in labour wages in recent years. The control and management of construction labour costs are becoming increasingly significant, but the concerns remain secondary in the country. An integrated evaluation index system was established for the labour costs in this paper. Principle component analysis was adopted to study the Chinese construction labour costs between the period 1996 and 2010. The results indicated that labour prices continued to increase from 1996 in China; in 2004 especially, the growth rate accelerated. Meanwhile, the input-output efficiency of the Chinese labour costs increased significantly, and the relative labour costs dropped. The labour costs of the Chinese construction industry presented a beneficial development trend. In an effort to further upgrade the comprehensive level of labour costs in the country, the structure should be further optimised and production mode of construction industry changed.

Keywords: construction industry; labour costs; China; evaluation index; PCA; principle component analysis; technological progress; construction industrialisation; input-output efficiency; construction wages.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2014.065023

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2014 Vol.14 No.4, pp.364 - 382

Received: 05 Nov 2013
Accepted: 04 May 2014
Published online: 28 Oct 2014 *

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