28 July 2020

2020- n° 194

In July 2020, the opinion of business managers in civil engineering on their past activity is particularly deteriorated Quaterly survey of public works - July 2020

In July 2020, the opinion of business managers about their activities over the past three months has reached its lowest level since the beginning of the series (1974), in connexion with the health crisis.

In July 2020, much more business managers than in January have indicated a decrease in their activity over the last three months. The corresponding balance of opinion stands at a very low level, due to the effects of the lockdown, as well as for the private-sector clients as for the public-sector clients.

However, the business managers are more positive on their activity prospects: a lot of them expect an increase in their activity for the next three months, in conjunction with the ongoing lockdown exit and the resumption of construction sites. The corresponding balance of opinion stands at a high level, above its level of January and equal to the level of October 2019. This relative optimism concerns the future activity with private-sector clients as well as with public-sector clients. It does not reflect necessarily that the activity prospects are higher than before the crisis, but rather a high proportion of firms which consider that their activity will grow during the next three months in comparison to the very low level reached during the lockdown.

In July 2020, much fewer business managers than in January deem that their order books remain well filled: the corresponding balance of opinion stands at a very low level, far below its long-term average. It is the largest half-yearly decrease recorded for this series since its beginning in 1974.

In July 2020, the obstacles to production due to workforce shortage have eased considerably. Indeed, only one in eight firms reports being hampered because of workforce shortage. This share, slightly below its long-term average, is very inferior to its level of January (40%). This share had reached a peak in April 2019, when nearly one in two firms reported that it could not increase its production due to lack of manpower. Then this share had been decreasing progressively in the following quarters.

In July 2020, much fewer business managers than in January have planed to increase their workforce in the next three months. The corresponding balance, falling since July 2019, remains however above its long-term average, probably partly because, as for activity, prospects are higher now than during the lockdown.