Labour Productivity in Construction Industry in Nigeria: Case of Lagos and Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria

The problem of labor productivity in construction industry in Nigeria has been an issue of concern to most contractors and professionals. This paper attempts to identify the factors that affect labor productivity by conducting a survey that relates to these problems encountered at construction sites. Eighteen (18) problems that could affect construction labor productivity were identified and a qualitative survey was conducted using questionnaires. One hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were distributed out of which 104 were returned (87%). The problems were ranked in their answers in terms of ‘very often’, ‘often’, ‘sometimes’ , ‘rarely’ , or ‘never’. The analysis of the survey was performed using the importance index. The values of the importance indices identified the involvement of non professionals, material shortages; variation in cost of materials, recruitment of supervisors, inclement weather, stoppage because of owner/landowners conflict, stoppage because of insolvency of subcontractor/suppliers, labor disruption, delay in material deliveries to site, disruption of power/water supply as the major factors affecting labor output. The recruitment of workers was identified as of little significance in the studied areas. Keywords: Construction, Labour productivity