Falling construction orders to cause more personal debt?

More construction industry workers could find themselves in debt as a result of a drop in orders across the industry.

With less work about, income will be lower for many and could make it harder to pay off credit card debt and other borrowing, meaning a debt management plan may be needed.

Such a situation could arise because orders have fallen, with Scotland's situation being revealed in new data published by the Scottish Property Federation (SPF).

It found new orders for commercial developments and repairs have dropped by a third since 2007 – a reduction in value of more than £2 billion to the wider economy.

The details of these findings are to be laid out over the next few days at the SPF annual conference in Edinburgh, with as many as 28,000 jobs lost in commercial property.

And the study uncovering these figures by Warwick University also found as many as one in four small and medium enterprises involved in the sector believe they will not survive to 2014.

Chairman of the organisation David Peck said: "The SPF is urging the Scottish Government to do what it can to help us unlock economic growth and development in order to deliver a strong private sector that will in turn support key public services."

In response, cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and capital investment in the Scottish Government Alex Neil MSP – a keynote speaker at the conference – said: "We are taking every action we can to drive the economy and assist the property sector on the ground."

The construction sector has been struggling throughout the UK economy in recent years.

Official figures for economic output showing a 0.2 per cent fall in gross domestic product in the final quarter of 2011 revealed a 0.5 per cent decline in construction was among the factors causing the contraction.

Posted by Paul Thacker