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This is Construction Week in Saskatchewan, an initiative designed to draw attention to the contribution this sector makes to the overall economy.
Creating and then maintaining the built environment has always played an important role in the marketplace. But this became even more pronounced at the beginning of this century when the economy took off and created what was called SaskaBoom.
Thousands of construction workers poured into the province as companies were called upon to deliver the promise offered by billions in fresh investment capital. We hit an annual peak of more than $20 billion in new investment in the province for several years at the height of the expansion.
Since then, we have seen a contraction in the volume of new construction, likely one of the factors behind the creation of Construction Week. Nonetheless, there are still 10,000 companies in or supporting the sector employing 50,000 people, representing about 12 per cent of the total payroll for the province.
Nearly 95 per cent of these businesses are considered Small Enterprises, employing fewer than 20 workers. Although the bulk of them are even smaller with only a couple on the payroll.
