Study On Growth Trend And Comprehensive Assessment Of Labor Cost For Chinese Construction Industry

Construction industry is one of the mainstay industries of our country. The construction industry has obtained rapid development over the past 30 years which plays an important role in the national economic development. Construction industry is the traditional labor intensive industry. The rapid development of construction industry depends on the abundance and cheap labor in China. However, the labor costs are rising in China in recent years. The rural surplus labor appears the supply falls short of demand. Chinese construction industry inevitably be affected. The survival and development of some small-medium sized construction enterprises have been threatened and the industry is facing greater challenges. The problems caused by the rapid growth of labor costs have attracted widespread attention of all social circles. However, the existing researches focus on the manufacturing industry. There is little research available on construction industry, even the construction industry is strongly influenced by the growth of labor costs. The research conclusions of labor costs in other industries are not always useful for construction industry because the products production in construction industry has the features of complexity and single use. Therefore, at the present situation, the comprehensive and systematic studies are urgently needed to understand the labor costs growth of construction industry for helping and guiding all departments in construction industry to respond to the rapid growth of labor costs.The research progresses of the general theory of labor costs, the international competitiveness of Chinese labor costs, the current situation, cause and effect of Chinese labor costs growth, the income increase of peasant-worker and the labor costs growth in construction industry are summarized. The feature and insufficient of existing researches are refined to provide the basis for the follow-up study.The questionnaires are adopted to survey the workers in Chongqing’s construction industry in order to deeply understand the current situation and growth of labor costs in construction industry. The survey content mainly involves the basic qualification, income level, wage increase and job satisfaction of construction workers. The detailed analyses are conducted on the current situation of Chongqing’s labor costs in construction industry according to investigating results. Meanwhile, some construction project examples in Chongqing city and Jiangsu Province are collected to analyze the proportions of labor costs to engineering cost are analyzed.The reason for the labor costs growth of construction industry are excavated in this study by combining the theories analysis and substantial evidence research. The influence factors that cause the increase of labor costs in construction industry are recognized on the foundation of abundant literature analysis. Then, the surveys are conducted after integrating the influence factors into questionnaire. The investigation contains enterprise type, shortage of labor, treatment of workers, the reasons and influences of labor costs growth. The effect degree and mechanism of each factor are analyzed and the primary cause of labor costs growth is determined according to the survey resultsThe prediction model GM(1, 1) based on grey system theory is built for the labor costs of construction industry. The development trend of the labor costs of construction industry in each province are forecasted by the proposed prediction model. The vertical and horizontal comparative analyses are conducted on the labor costs level, increment characteristics and change direction of construction industry in different regions. Thus, the regional divergences of Chines labor costs in construction industry and their future trend are able to be fully understand.The objectives evaluation of labor costs must derive from several aspects due to the dualism of labor costs. The object includes not only enterprise cost pressure but also the incentive of labor costs to enterprise staffs and the economic benefit of labor costs. This study establishes a more comprehensive index system of labor costs assessment for construction industry through the improving the existing indexes. The comprehensive developing level of the labor costs of Chinese construction industry are assessed by using the proposed index system and principal component analysis. The development history of the labor costs are analyzed based on the assessment results.The adverse impacts of the rapid growth of labor costs on the construction enterprise, management of construction project and project cost are analyzed from microcosmic point of view according to the results of questionnaire survey and empirical research.Some measures and suggestions are presented for the construction enterprise and construction administration department respectively according to the research finding and conclusion of the labor costs of construction industry. These suggestions can provide the beneficial reference for the construction enterprise and construction administration department to seize the environment for the development of construction industry and deal with the pressure and challenges that is caused by the growth of labor costs.