Application of GIS to labour market planning in construction

The fluctuations in the demand for construction work have often resulted in skills shortages. This has led to the need for effective construction labour market planning strategies, which enable the construction industry to meet its skills requirements, particularly in periods of peak demand. Existing approaches to construction labour market planning have several limitations. They do not shed light on the socio-economic and spatially influenced issues within which the industry’s skills shortages are rooted. There is, therefore, a need for more appropriate decision-support mechanisms that can take account of spatial problems in terms of skills demand and supply influences. Through industry involvement, this research has explored how GIS can enhance the labour market planning process in construction. The research briefly reviews the nature of labour market planning in construction, introduces geographic information systems, and highlights the opportunities they offer for overcoming the limitations of existing approaches. The implementation of the GIS-based system and its application to a specific labour market planning initiative is then presented. The evaluation of the system by prospective end-users reveals the enablers, barriers and benefits of the system implementation. Organisational issues that had a bearing on the implementation are also examined and recommendations made for further research.