Factors affecting construction labour productivity in Iraq : using Basra city as a case study

Abstract EN

The construction industry has a multifaceted relationship with most sectors of the economy in all nations, as well as playing a vital role in social and economic development.

One of the main factors that affect the development of the construction industry is labour productivity.

The aim of this paper is to identify and rank the importance of the factors perceived in the literature to influence labour productivity in the Iraqi construction industry using Basra city as a case study.

From the literature a total of 59 main factors were identified that may affect labour productivity on construction sites.

These factors were classified into ten primary groups: (1) Managerial; (2) Environmental; (3) Manpower; (4) materials and equipment; (5) Schedule; (6) Safety; (7) Quality; (8) Motivation; (9) Technical; (10) External.

The statistical analysis of these factors was prepared by using the Relative Importance Index (RII) and SPSS 23 programme.

The grades obtained made it possible to assess the comparative importance of the factors as perceived by respondents.

The study provides comprehensive and explicit data for the construction contractors working in Iraq before providing the proposal for the bids taking in account the risks and the challenges mentioned in the study.

Also it observed that the Iraqi government authority enforcement is essential to ensure that the construction labour productivity is fulfilled without losing in time and money.

A structured questionnaire survey was sent to construction project managers, as a target group and the results showed in order to improve labour productivity in Basra city in particular and in Iraq in general.

The results are show that the ten essential factors affect on construction labour productivity with different level of importance.

In addition, all types of corruption must be considered to be serious problems affecting labour productivity.

Enforcement, conduct education and training for manpower by using new techniques are decreasing the difference between estimated and actual labour productivity.