Growth in construction work shrank by the most in more than eight years in the first three months of 2009 as a result of the economic downturn, new data show.
Construction work done in the March quarter dropped by a seasonally adjusted 3.7 per cent to $34.5 billion, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Wednesday. It was the sharpest decline since the December quarter of 2000.
Economists had expected a 3.0 per cent decline.
Engineering construction work fell 3.0 per cent to $17.0 billion, while building construction work declined 4.4 per cent to $17.4 billion as residential work dropped 6.0 per cent to 9.9 billion.
The data will feed into the March quarter gross domestic product (GDP) survey due next Wednesday, which is likely to confirm the economy is in recession after growth contracted in the December quarter.
A recession is traditionally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
AAP
