Critical Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity in Egypt

Abstract

The construction industry plays an important role in any developing country. This sector will promote the infrastructure required in socioeconomic development which also a major contributor to the overall economic growth. One of the main factors that had influence in the construction industry growth is productivity which mainly associated with the labor performance. Labor in construction industry could be defined as all workforces involve in the process that had to carry out to accomplish and to achieve goal. The labor productivity insufficiency will affect the performance of the overall project. The objective of this research is to identify and rank the relative importance of factors perceived to affect labor productivity on Egyptian construction projects. To achieve this objective, a statistically representative sample of contractors was invited to participate in a structured questionnaire survey, comprising 27 productivity factors, classified under the following four primary groups: (a) Technological; (b) Management; (c) Human/Labor; and (d) External. Among the factors explored, the subsequent ten are discerned to be the most significant in their effects on labor productivity: (1) Payment delay; (2) Skill of labor; (3) A shortage of experienced labor; (4) Lack of labor supervision; (5) Motivation of labor; (6) Working overtime, (7) Construction managers lack of leadership, (8) High humidity, (9) Clarity of technical specification, (10) High/low temperature. The results obtained fill a gap in knowledge of factors affecting labor productivity in Egypt, which can be used by industry practitioners to develop a wider and deeper perspective of the factors influencing the efficiency of operatives, and provide guidance to construction managers for efficient utilization of the labor force, hence assist in achieving a reasonable level of competitiveness and cost effective operation.