A Study on Construction Labour Productivity Parameters in India

Abstract

Construction industry (CI) is one of the major pillars in economy in any country, be it developed or a developing one. CI plays a pivotal role in the capital investment. Construction labour productivity (CLP) has pivotal role to ensure CI contributes to economic growth. It is difficult to improve or even measure CLP as there is a limited comparable input and output. Normally, even the slightest improvement in CLP level in construction sites would greatly benefit the national economy. CLP measurement depends upon the labour constants associated with their adopted attributes in the process and completion of a construction project. Due to lack of suitable data for labour productivity parameters i.e., labour constants and associated attributes of various activities and because there is not enough reliable and meaningful information upon which the industry can rely, it is difficult to form an accurate vision of CLP. The principle reference for this study is IS-7272 part-I. The code contains the recommendation for labour output constants for building work. In this paper, the labour constants used to calculate standard schedule rates (SSR) from various departments in India is collected. Various labour attributes adopted for similar activity is compared. This review paper explains the variations of labour productivity parameters responsible for SSR at central and state level in India, related with similar construction work activities and also influence of selected attributes on respective activity unit rates.

Keywords: Construction industry (CI), Construction labour productivity (CLP), labour constants, productivity parameters, standard schedule rates (SSR)