WAGES FOR construction staff have risen by €50 a week to an average of €834, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In the 12 months to March 2008, the average working week increased by almost an hour, to 43.8 hours. The hourly wage increased by 4.4 per cent to €19.05.

Weekly earnings for unskilled staff rose 6.9 per cent to €835 or an hourly rate of €17.90, the CSO report into earnings in the construction sector showed.

Over the period the number of hours they worked increased by just under an hour to 46.7 hours.

Skilled building staff saw their wages rise 4.4 per cent to €921 per week, resulting in an average hourly rate of €21.46.

Clerical and operative building staff wages rose by 6.4 per cent to €834.84 per week. Over the period in question the housing slowdown has accelerated and the sector has suffered significant job losses.

The CSO's construction employment index, which analyses the number of staff in private construction firms with five or more employees, contracted further in April to 94 and is down 13.8 per cent on April 2007.

About 25 companies in the construction sector have gone into liquidation every month this year, according to figures from business information company, Experian.

Planning permission data from the CSO last week showed a 9.5 per cent fall for the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2007 - 18,582 permissions were granted. Planning permissions for houses fell 15 per cent while permissions for apartments rose by 8 per cent.