Official figures show construction output falling again, but devils lurk in the detail

Construction output slumped back into decline in the final quarter of 2009, after a supposed rise out of recession in summer.

That is the headline story from today鈥檚 release of the construction output figures.

But dig a bit deeper and we see some unsettling implications in the numbers.

Firstly the statisticians now believe the hole of the recession was deeper in 2009 than they previously thought (see graph 1) and instead of growing in the second quarter of last year the industry is now thought to have shrunk.

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