Plumbing Industry Analysis

Overview

The plumbing industry is a state regulated industry. The state regulates the industry through a licensing process based upon the Universal Building Code. The code is state specific and is a comprehensive code for all building issues. There are three skill levels of plumbers. The first is the Apprentice who is basically a skilled laborer.

Market Trends

According to census data, approximately 76% of plumbers were working in 2006 in the construction industry. There were also significant numbers in the manufacturing sector (7%) and government (4%). The evolution of employment in this occupation is mainly dependent on trends in the construction industry.

Construction Industry After a period of decline that continued until 1998, employment in the construction sector experienced a strong recovery that has achieved a historic high in 2008. Many factors have combined to account for recovery:

Interest rates low; Significant growth in private and public investment; A sustained job creation; Lower taxes and taxes; Improvement of the youth labor market that has encouraged more to leave the parental home; The high level of net migration (international and interprovincial immigrants minus emigrants). These factors have led to an increase of over 60% of employment in construction between 1998 and 2008. In the construction industry regulated, the number of hours worked increased by nearly 90% during the same period, according to data from the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ). If the current recession would disadvantage certain sectors of construction (residential, commercial, industrial and renovation), numerous government stimulus programs established to combat the recession, especially from the infrastructure but also on the part of the institutional sector, should significantly limit the impact. Subsequently, in 2010, economic recovery should lead to employment growth in other sectors of construction, except in the residential sector will be affected by the decline in housing starts. That said, given the high level of activity attained in 2008, construction employment should increase only slightly during the forecast period (2009-2013), a pace much slower than in the 10 years. The situation is very different in different sectors of the construction. The construction sector institutional and commercial supplies about half of the hours worked in construction regulated and generally changes at the same rate as the entire industry. With many government projects, the institutional construction should see growth in the future. The commercial sector will suffer during this recession, but should rebound thereafter. In total, employment in the area of ??institutional and commercial construction should continue to increase at the same rate as the entire construction sector in the coming years. Providing in 2008 a little over 20% of hours worked, the residential construction sector is regulated sector that has most benefited from the growth observed between 1998 to 2008, with growth of 170% of hours worked. This level of activity will not continue. Moreover, the number of housing starts decreased by almost 20% from its peak in 2004 and 2008, and should continue to decline, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. As this sector ...