Factors Affecting Labor Productivity in Egyptian Construction Industry

Abstract

Labor as main part of human resources that have the major part of construction processes cost, almost half. Therefore, most of the construction organization invest a lot of effort, time and money to improve the labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt, many researches were conducted to identifying the main factors impacted the labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt. This paper aim to prioritize the most significant factors impact labor productivity in construction sites for private construction company as Orascom for construction and Hassan Allam for construction as a case study in Egypt through analyzing the data of 117 respondents out of 364 sample size by Chi-square test for association in Minitab 18 software of the data collected from site engineers as purposive and convenience sampling design , questionnaire used as primary source of collecting data using 4-point Liker scale to measure the factor related and not related to the labor and indicate the most effective factor affecting on the labor productivity between the following factors which selected depend on the most frequented factors that revealed by extensive of literature review in the researches that had been conducted and relevant to same regard as secondary source of data which was?, (1) Lack of Labor supervision, (2) Material Shortage, (3) Equipment Shortage and (4) lack of skilled labor

Research limitations/implications: ?the research was limited in term of time that cause shortage of respondent received to complete the sample size as constraint to generalized to population .in addition the research conducted in private sector not in public sector?????

?Findings: the labor non-related factor most affective factor that has direct impact and significant effect on the labor productivity such as shortage and lack of material, tools and equipment availability on site more than ?the factors that related to the labor such as the skill labor factor is second rank after the labor non-related factors.??

?

Keywords:?Egypt - labor Productivity – construction industry – shortage of material and??????????????????equipment – skilled labor – labor supervision?

Introduction

Construction industry are one of the great industries that the world has known, and it is one of the oldest industries that people have ever known., Since the construction of the pyramids and the construction of the Great Wall of China. This industry has evolved with the development of man through time and is classified as a service industry because it provides services to the citizen wherever it is to build cities, hospitals. The construction industry plays great role in the Egyptian economic growth which increased by 10% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) from 2016 to 2017 (Egyptian Ministry of administrative reform &planning, 2019)?Hence?the Human Resources play the main role of the construction industries especially the labor which has the most important part of the Human Resource department in which of most countries the labor cost contributes with about 30% to 50%?of the construction projects overall cost (McTague , Jergeas 2002) . Then the labor productivity has a significant influence in Construction industries in Egypt in term of cost and it has direct influence on GDP growth in term of productivity, productivity growth is the key determinant of international competitiveness in the long term. Improving relative productivity improves a company’s competitive position (Manjeri, Sunil; 2011). Therefore, the low of labor productivity is considered as great challenge in construction sector in Egypt. Labors for any construction industry needs to be productive and efficient. Otherwise it will lead to a lot of extra cost and extend the time the whole construction operation, Therefore, the objective of this research is to prioritize and ranking the factors which have the main significant affecting on the labor productivity in construction sector in Egypt. Productivity is an average measure of the efficiency of production. It is a ratio of production output to what is required to produce it (inputs of capital, labour, land, energy, materials.). We see that as a measure of the average productivity is often difficult to interpret correctly (Sepsarr, 2013). In 1950, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) introduced a formal definition of productivity as “a quotient obtained by dividing output by one of the production factors”. The US Department of Commerce defines productivity as “Dollars of output per person hour of labor input” (Adrian 1987). Peles (1987) interpreted productivity as “the performance accomplished by operatives”, whereas Handa and Adballa (1989) defined productivity as “the ratio of outputs of goods and/or services to inputs of basic resources, for example, labor, capital, technology, materials and energy”. The American Association of Cost Engineers moreover, defines productivity as a “relative measure of labor efficiency, either good or bad, when compared to an established base or norm” (Allmon et al. 2000).While Arditi ,Mochtar (2000) referred to productivity as “the ratio between total outputs expressed in Dollars and total inputs expressed in Dollars as well”, Horner and Duff (2001) expressed productivity as “how much is produced per unit input”

labor productivity is one of the most important indicators for the whale construction industry KPI (key performance indicator index) as it contributes to raise the Whole KPI for all construction sector productivity, is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets. High-level KPIs may focus on the overall performance of the business, while low-level KPIs may focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing, HR, support and others. KPIs assist an organization to define and measure progress toward organizational goals and objectives, Due to size of construction industry, productivity trends carry immense consequences for the economy as a whole.

Statement of Problem?

As per the Sustainable Development?Strategy?(SDS):?Egypt Vision 2030?(Egyptian ministry of finance, 2017) which focus in infrastructure projects , road networks and power projects which has main part of construction industry in Egypt , the Egyptian government subsidizing and supporting not only most of?the construction sectors?but also the other sectors to achieve the strategic plan of 2030 of whole economic growth which will increase the Egyptian Gross Domestic Productivity (GDP )?

Although, the government efforts have been made in this regard, the construction sector in Egypt is suffering in term of labor productivity, low productivity is a regular issue and problem in construction and civil engineering projects (Marzouk, Rasas ,2013). in addition, other researchers admit that there is a problem in regard of the labor productivity in construction industries (Hafez, Aziz, Morgan, Abdullah &Ahmed, 2014).

Obviously, a gap is observed in the construction industry in Egypt and the goal may be hard to be achieved and difficult to accomplished , therefore , an investigation and research is needed to identify and prioritize the factor affecting the low of labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt and reveal the main reason that frequently affect the labor productivity such as , poor of site management , lake of supervision , shortage of availability of material on site , shortage of tools and equipment in site and lack of skilled labor and their adequate experience.???

Research Objective

The objectives of this study are as follows:

1-????????To find out the factors directly affecting the labor productivity in construction sector.

2-????????To find out positive and negative effect of those factors on labor productivity.

3-????????To prioritize the factors according to their impact on productivity of construction labor in Egypt?

Research Questions

1-??????????????How does the labor -not related factors affecting the labor productivity in construction industry?

2-??????????????How does the labor -related factors affecting the labor productivity in construction industry?

3-??????????????What is the most affecting factor that affect the labor productivity in construction industry?

?

Literature Review

This paper is aim to find?the main factor affecting the labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt, ranking the variables would help to find the rout cause of the problem which may lead to overcome the main reason of low?labor productivity in construction sector in Egypt, a lot of researches and case study founded in Egypt and in other developing countries which similar to the socioeconomic ,culture, environmental and type of working construction projects in such similar country like?Kuwait, Iran, Jordan,?Iraq, and Sri lanka as developing countries, All the founded rehearses aim to identify and rank the main factor affecting the labor productivity and determine in which group of management, labor, material and other groups , the variables founded is as follow

?

Labor Productivity

Hasan, Baroudi , Elmualim & Rameezdeen, ( 2017) the research “Factors affecting construction productivity: a 30 year systematic review” illustrates and reveals how many researches that published in term of factors affecting the labor productivity in construction industries in Egypt as developing countries and other countries, the research had been reviewed 46 articles published in?journals, conference, dissertation and PhD thesis for 30 years from 1987 till 2016 , the research limitation was not demonstrate the labor productivity in organizational level only the construction activities and the research in period 1987-2016 determine that Non-availability of materials (33 studies) had been conducted and it is the 1st ?and most frequented factor in the studies of factor affecting the construction labor productivity , lack of supervision was listed as the 2nd most frequented factor (29 studies) Had been conducted,?Skill shortage (25 studies) Had been conducted and it is the third ranked frequented factors in the studies of factor affecting the construction labor productivity, finally , availability of tool and equipment in site is ranked as the 4th most?frequented (24 studies) factors in the studies of factor affecting the construction labor productivity.

???????????Kotb, Mohamed & El-Deeb (2020), in their research “Factors Affecting Performance in The Egyptian Construction Projects”?the researchers aimed to find the main factor affecting the performance in the Egyptian construction industry from the owner , consultant and the contractors perspectives , the researchers review all the pervious literatures published related and try to collect the factors might affect the project performance then held interviews with construction experts using Delphi technique to identify and find the factors with KPI ( key performance indicators ) in survey questioner with different parties client , consultant and contractors in public and private sectors to categorizes the factors related to each party then with sample size 100?distributed as follow in the three parties including public and private sector , owner 40 (public sector 27- private sector 13), consultant 20 (public sector 10 – private sector 10) and contractor 40 (16 public sector – private sector 24) taking into consideration the level of experience of the selected sample and the both public and private sector to use the importance factor of weight of the result, in this method, each factor affecting in Performance is having an importance factor according to respondent answers. The value of each factors can be calculated as follows.

??????????????????????????????Importance Factor ?

and applying the KPI as measuring and reveals the performance of the organization towards the goal as High level of KPI demonstrate the organization is in a good well to the goal in terms of all terms related to the productivity, labor productivity in this case,?and evaluation around 30 case study in regard of KPIs in term of cost and time schedule to demonstrate and clarify which of the case study is over budget ( the actual cost of the construction project exceed the planned cost) and behind schedule ( the time consumed to execute the project is more than what is planned ) the KPIs case study reveal the productivities in all activities which indicate low productivity of labor .

Marzouk, El-Rasas (2014) in their research “Analyzing delay causes in Egyptian construction projects” the research is demonstrating the main cause of low performance and delaying of construction in Egypt. Through conducting interviews and questioners survey with industry experts, a feedback of construction experts is demonstrated and revealed using Frequency Index, Severity Index, and Importance Index calculation to determine the top ten delay factor in construction projects in Egypt, in addition a Statistical analysis is conducted by ANOVA method. The most important delay causes groups of construction projects in Egypt are prioritized according to their significance to five levels Very High, High, Medium, Low, and Very Low. the survey applied for 43 delay causes which divided into 7 categories: owner, consultant, contractor, material, labor and equipment, project, and external. 33 experts answered. The experts were splatted up into 3 groups – 11 experts per each - owner, consultant and the contractor respectively all have enough experience in the construction field 20-30 years’ experience, a Case study is applied for 16 projects of building in 6 October city – Egypt. With time schedule contract of 2 years and budget around 60. Finally, Statistical analysis Data are done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSSs).

Hafez, Aziz, Morgan, Abdullah,& Ahmed ( 2014), in research “ Critical factors affecting construction labor productivity in Egypt “ the research is to find the gap of low labor productivity in the construction industry in Egypt and listed the critical factor affecting the low performance in construction projects using questioner?showing 27 factors that may affect the labor productivity ,Mistry &Bhatt (2013 ) . which divided into related group based on other researcher’s literatures: technological, Human/labor, management, external and analyzing data by using the Relative Importance Index (RII) (Lim and Alum 1995; Enshassi et al. 2007; and Jarkas and Bitar 2012): The RII used to prioritize and rank factors affecting on labor productivity.

Mahmoud Elazzazy (2019) in his thesis “?Factors affecting construction labor productivity in developed and developing countries” , the researcher try to illustrate the factor affecting the labor productivity in construction sector capered with other manufacturing sectors in developing countries as long as developed countries , the research demonstrate the critical factor that has a negative significant impact in construction sector in developing countries relatively in developed countries by defining the construction productivity in reviewed literature using the contemporary methods and approaches to detect the factor affecting the labor productivity in many countries , furthermore , analysis for 6 case studies in developed and developing countries , two case studies to demonstrate the measurements of labor productivity in construction sites , one case study for labor productivity in?block work activity with new sample of reporting the labor productivity , furthermore, the other case study construction metrics of standard units.

Gerges, Ahiakwo, Aziz, Kapogiannis, Saidani &Saraireh,( 2016 ) , in their research “ Investigating and Ranking Labor Productivity Factors in the Egyptian Construction Industry” the researchers found the loss in construction project productivity in terms of labor which is main important factor that might improve and lead the construction project to success and more profit in this regard the researchers reviews the pervious literatures and questioner survey (227 received of 258 questioner sent) to reveal and demonstrate the challenge and the idea beyond the labor productivity in construction projects in Egypt and list the factors that influence in labor productivity in construction sector in Egypt,41factors classified and splatted into 4 major factor group?(1) Human/Labor; (2) Material; (3) Management; and (4) External. The information collected from the questioner is reveals the factors prioritize based on their relative importance index. 10 factors ranked between RII = 85.79% and RII = 81.58% are the major factors affecting labor productivity in Egypt. These factors include (1) Tools and equipment shortages;(2) Delay in material delivery on site;(3) Payment delay; (4)Undisciplined labor; (5) Material shortage; (6)Rework; (7)Labor expensive and skills; (8)Low quality of raw material(9)Waiting for equipment to arrive; and (10) On-site accident.

Bekr 2016), in his research “Study of Significant Factors Affecting Labor Productivity at Construction Sites in Jordan: Site Survey” 37 factors had been listed and illustrated in designed survey the factors determined based on the review of pervious literatures in same regard , the survey was divided the factors into 5 groups labor, technical, project, financial, and material and equipment, 150 surveys has distributed as 50 surveys for client , consultant and contractors equally. statistical package SPSS used to analysis in addition to Relative importance index to determine the factors affecting the labor productivity in construction sites.

Dakhil1, Naji & Faleh, Kufa (2017), the research “factors affecting construction labour productivity in Iraq using Basra city as a case study” clarify the factor affecting the low labour productivity in construction sites taken Basra City as case study. 59 factors identified as the main factor might affect the labor productivity in construction sites which were divided into main groups: (1) Managerial; (2) Environmental; (3) Manpower; (4) materials and equipment; (5) Schedule; (6) Safety; (7) Quality; (8) Motivation; (9) Technical; (10) External. statistical analysis of these factors was applied using the Relative Importance Index (RII) and SPSS 23 program. ‘Survey Monkey’ tool was used to structure the survey targeted project managers.

Jarkas, Ph.D & Bitar (2016), the research “Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity in Kuwait” try to identify the most important factor that has cause low labor productivity in Kuwait construction industries using statistical analysis of result from questionnaire survey demonstrated?45 factors target sample, of?22 field employee nominated by Central Tenders Committee (CTC) of Kuwait and the factors putted in main (1) management; (2) technological; (3) human/labor; and (4) external.

Ghoddousi1, Hosseini (2010) the research “a survey of the factors affecting the productivity of construction projects in Iran” is aimed to identify the main factor affecting the low progress and productivity in Iranian construction projects that lead to delay most of the construction projects the researchers study the litterateur and designed questioner target the contractors , 93 out of 112 had been received using statistical analysis od mean, variance?and variance coefficient to rank the most factor affect the productivity in construction projects , 31 factor classified into group as material/tools, construction method/technology, management/planning, supervision, reworks, weather, and jobsite conditions. The result of study revealed there is 10 main factors might have more significant influence and impact in construction activities productivity in Iran projects.

Santoso , Piumal Gallage(2019) in their research which is a case study in Sri Lanka as developing countries to find the main factor that influence and affect the performance in large construction projects, survey was applied to list and prioritize the variables that have the main and the significant influence in construction projects in addition an interviews with experts from infrastructure fields . three large projects were examining to find causes factors, and ten critical factors were obtained from clients and contractors including project size and scope, contractor site management and supervision, project complexity , planning and project schedule , contactor skilled of labor , delay activities , government policies and regulation , wrong cost estimate , quality issue and rework and wrong time estimation??

Naoum (2015), the researcher in the article try to determine the variables that affect the labor productivity in construction sites using two phases of methodology, first is literature review and the second is interviews were conducted with 36 experts (19 contract managers and 17 site managers) the survey?was splatted?into five groups and each group contained the relevant factors the researcher reveals that the limitation of research is based on the main contractors not the other experts of engineers or designers.

Shortage of Material on Site

????????????Kotb et al (2020).reveal that Availability of material on site is ranked the top main factor affecting the construction performance in Egypt in term of importance factor, the availabilities including material on site,?is ranked as the first importance factor as per contractor perspective in term of importance factor 97.27%?, 93.33% is?ranked as the first important factor from owner perspective and ranked as the fourth important factor with 88.00% according to consultant, the research demonstrate that there was a strong negative relation between shortage of material on site and the labor productivity in construction sites.

Marzouk, El-Rasas (2013). The study is about analysis the delay cause of low performance in construction projects in Egypt, and?the study reveals and demonstrate the ten-top factor in which the availability of material on site are the first and most important factor that cause delay in the construction project which affect positively and increase the productivity of construction project which lead to raise of performance in construction project activities in Egypt and according to the Frequency Index, Severity Index, and Importance Index it can be shown that Availability of material on site Severity Index.?Group delay – material related as 93.9.

Hafez et al (2014). In the article that aim to find the critical factor that affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Egypt ,Hafez reveal shortage of material as the factor affecting labor productivity in management group, with Relative Importance Index (RII) 72.00% is ranked as 22th factor among the factors affecting the labor productivity in construction sites in Egypt that show the negatively relation between the shortage of material in site and the labor productivity.

Elazzazy(2019). The master thesis that study the factor cause the low labor productivity in developing and developed countries , the thesis reveal that The result depend on many previous studies and the thesis revealed that Lack of required materials that factors were ranked in the top lists in several studies for developing countries in comparison for developed countries and has?negative impact in labor productivity in developing countries .

Gerges et al (2016). The research aim to rank and prioritize the variables and factors might affect the labor productivity in Egyptian construction industry, the researchers found the loss in construction project productivity in terms of labor which is main important factor that might improve and lead the construction project to success and more profit in this regard shortage?of material on site is ranked the 2nd?top factor with Relative importance index (83.42 %) from the Material group , Material shortage ranked the 5th top factor with Relative importance index (82.37%) from the Material group which show a negative relation between shortage of material and labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Ghanim, Bekr (2016). the study in Jordan about main factor that influence the labor productivity in construction site. the results of the research have demonstrated that Material shortage at project site as factor was 2nd in the overall ranking with importance index of 82.46 negatively affecting the productivity of construction activities as labour wate time waiting the availability of material to be on sites.

Dakhil1, Zaher & Faleh (2017). the research clarifies the factor affecting the low labour productivity in construction sites taken Basra City as case study ,the research illustrated the top 10 factors might affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Basra City, Iraq, with regard the main group and importance ranking. the result is revealed Materials shortages ranked third in Importance ranking of material/equipment factors with mean??3.63 and relative importance factor (RII) of 72.56 and not mentioned in the top 10 factors that affect the labor productivity.

Jarkas,Bitar(2016). the study which applied in Kuwait about the variables and the factor affect the labor productivity was to identify the most important factor that has cause low labor productivity in Kuwait construction industries the article reveals that shortage of materials ranked 27th with?Relative importance index 52.87 with negative relation and significat impact on labor productivity in construction industry in Kuwait.

Ghoddousi1, Hosseini (2010). the research was to find the factor affect the productivity in construction projects in Iran and to identify the main factor affecting the low progress that lead to delay most of the construction projects The result of study revealed there is 10 main factor might has more significant influence and impact in construction activities productivity in Iran projects, the conclusion of this research is demonstrated that the factors have the most negative impact on labor productivity in construction project in descending order with the shortage material in comes in the 6th order.

Naoum (2015), the researcher in the article try to determine the variables that affect the labor productivity in construction sites out of 46 factor the management of material on site in stage of during construction is has the 6th negative impact as per the paper ranked the factor with ranked with relative importance index of 0.805.

?

?

Shortage of Tool and Equipment in Site

????????????Kotb et al (2020).reveal that Availability of material on site is ranked the top main factor affecting the construction performance in Egypt in term of importance factor, the availabilities including tool and equipment on site is ranked as the fourth important factor with 88.00% according to consultant , 97.27% is same as good coordination (site management ) i.e the first importance factor as per contractor perspective , 93.33% in ranked as the first important factor from owner perspective which reveals the negative relation between the shortage of tools and equipment with the labor productivity in construction sites in Egypt .??

Elazzazy(2019). The master thesis that study the factor cause the low labor productivity in developing and developed countries , the thesis which is supported by several past studies; the shortage of tools and equipment is ranked in the top lists in several studies for developing countries in comparison for developed countries and has?negative impact in labor productivity in developing countries and has negatively impacted on the labor productivity in construction sites in developing countries as Egypt.

Gerges et al (2016). The research aim to rank and prioritize the variables and factors might affect the labor productivity in Egyptian construction industry, the researchers found the loss in construction project productivity in terms of labor which is main important factor that might improve and lead the construction project to success and more profit in this regard and ?based on percentage of relative importance index for tools and equipment shortages is ranked the first top factor with (85.79%) from the Material group which show a negative relation between shortage of material and labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Ghanim, Bekr (2016). the study in Jordan about main factor that influence the labor productivity in construction site have demonstrated that shortage of tool and equipment?at project site as factor was 3rd in the overall ranking with importance index of 79.88 and negatively affecting labor productivity of construction activities as labour wate time waiting the availability of tools and equipment?to be on sites.

Dakhil1, Zaher & Faleh (2017). the research clarifies the factor affecting the low labour productivity in construction sites taken Basra City as case study, the research illustrated the top 10 factors might affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Basra City, Iraq, with regard the main group and importance ranking. the result is revealed “Tools and equipment shortages” are most important factor affecting labor productivity in the material/equipment group with mean equal to 4 and with RII 80.0% has nor any ranking in the 10 top factor affecting the labor productivity in Basra City , Iraq .

Ghoddousi1, Hosseini (2010). the research was to find the factor affect the productivity in construction projects in Iran and to identify the main factor affecting the low progress that lead to delay most of the construction projects The result of study revealed there is 10 main factor might has more significant influence and impact in construction activities productivity in Iran projects, the conclusion of this research is demonstrated that the factors have the most negative impact on labor productivity in construction project in descending order with the shortage material in comes in the 3th order.

Naoum (2015), the researcher in the article try to determine the variables that affect the labor productivity in construction sites out of 46 factor the management of material on site in stage of during construction is has the 21th negative impact as per the paper ranked the factor with ranked with relative importance index of 0.685.

?Lack of Skilled Labor

????????????Kotb et al (2020).reveal that Availability of material on site is ranked the top main factor affecting the construction performance in Egypt in term of importance factor, Resources availabilities including availability of skilled labor and experience on site is ranked as the fourth important factor with 88.00% according to consultant , 97.27% is same as good coordination (site management ) i.e. the first importance factor as per contractor perspective , 93.33% in ranked as the first important factor from owner perspective , the research demonstrate that there was a strong negative relation between lack of skilled labor and the labor productivity in construction sites.

Marzouk, El-Rasas (2013). The study is about analysis the delay cause of low performance in construction projects in Egypt, the study reveals and demonstrate the ten-top factor in which the ranked according to Frequency Index (labor & equipment delay group) - Low productivity level of labors (64.39) ranked 7and ranked according to Severity Index. Labor & equipment delay group - 86.4 ranked 8, and ranked according to Importance Index. - Labor & equipment delay group 55.61 ranked 4 which overall indicate that there is a negative relation between the lack of skilled labor and labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.?

Hafez et al (2014). In the article that aim to find the critical factor that affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Egypt, Hafez reveal The Skill of labor” as the most important factor affecting labor productivity in this human group with a relative importance index of 86.91%. and the Skilled labor is ranked as the second factor as result of the research explored, which confirms that the Lack of skilled labor factor has significant and great impact in parallel with negative relation with the labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Elazzazy(2019). The master thesis that study the factor cause the low labor productivity in developing and developed countries , the thesis reveals that the skilled labor in developing countries has negative relation and great impact in labor productivity in construction sites in developing countries and the results of thesis is supported by many?case studies in which the skilled labor was ranked the 2nd out of?45 factors in case study 5 and 7th out of?41 factors in case study 4. This result ensures that hiring the skilled labor is difficult in developing countries because of shortage of training program thus that factors were ranked in the top lists in several studies for developing countries in comparison for developed countries and has negative impact in labor productivity in developing countries.

Gerges et al (2016). The research aim to rank and prioritize the variables and factors might affect the labor productivity in Egyptian construction industry, the researchers found the , all the factors identified from the survey are ranked based on their percentage of relative importance thus labor experience and skill?is ranked the 7th top factor with Relative importance index (81.96 %) from the Human/Labor factor group a negative relation between shortage of material and labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Ghanim, Bekr (2016). the study in Jordan about main factor that influence the labor productivity in construction site. the results of the research have demonstrated that skilled labor This factor was ranked fourth with Importance index of 78.42. In Jordan, and negatively affecting the labour productivity of construction activities.?

Dakhil1, Zaher & Faleh (2017). the research clarifies the factor affecting the low labour productivity in construction sites taken Basra City as case study, the research illustrated the top 10 factors might affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Basra City, Iraq, with regard the main group and importance ranking. the result is revealed the lack of skilled labor is ranked as 4th factor in overall ranking among the top ten factor with relative importance index of 80.45 % which show the negative relation and great affect in labor productivity of construction activities in Iraq.

Jarkas,Bitar(2016). the study which applied in Kuwait about the variables and the factor affect the labor productivity was to identify the most important factor that has cause low labor productivity in Kuwait construction industries the article reveals that the lack of skilled labor is ranked 20th with?59.36% as relative importance index with negative relation and significant impact on labor productivity in construction industry in Kuwait.

Ghoddousi1, Hosseini (2010). the research was to find the factor affect the productivity in construction projects in Iran and to identify the main factor affecting the low progress that lead to delay most of the construction projects The result of study revealed there is 10 main factor might has more significant influence and impact in construction activities productivity in Iran projects, the conclusion of this research is demonstrated that the factors have the most negative impact on labor productivity in construction project in descending order with the lack of experience and skills required to perform and do the task in the 4th order.

Naoum (2015), the researcher in the article try to determine the variables that affect the labor productivity in construction sites and the article show that the lack of skilled labor is ranked as 17th of 46 factors on site in stage of during construction and has negative impact in labor productivity in construction projects.

Santoso , Piumal Gallage(2019) in their research which is a case study in Sri Lanka as developing countries to find the critical factor that influence and affect the performance in large construction projects the study revealed that lack of skills?of labor as 5th in the overall ranking which demonstrate the negative relation and great impact on the labor productivity in developing countries construction industries as Sri Lanka as case study .

Lack of Supervision

Marzouk, El-Rasas (2013). The study is about analysis the delay cause of low performance in construction projects in Egypt, and the study reveals and demonstrate the ten-top delay causes ranked according to Frequency Index. Contractor related - Poor site management and supervision frequency index 64.39 and ranked as 6th in overall ranking from contactor perspective and show the negative relation which impact the labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Hafez et al (2014). In the article that aim to find the critical factor that affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Egypt ,Hafez reveal The lack of supervision as the most important factor affecting labor productivity in management group, with a Relative Importance Index of 84.00 This top ranked factor is further ranked as the fourth in its effect among all factors explored, which confirms the significant negative impact on labor productivity in construction sites in Egypt.?

Elazzazy(2019). The master thesis that study the factor cause the low labor productivity in developing and developed countries , the thesis reveal that the lack of supervision is ranked in top and most factors affecting and influence the labor productivity in developing countries based on study many cases which clarify that Lack of supervision?comes in?12th place out of?41 factors in case study 4, whereas?lack of labor supervised is 3rd in overall 45 factors in case study 5. The results indicate the huge importance of supervision of labors in developing countries which indicated that there is a negative relation between lack of supervision and labor productivity in construction industry in developing countries.

Gerges et al (2016). The research aim to rank and prioritize the variables and factors might affect the labor productivity in Egyptian construction industry, the researchers found the loss in construction project productivity in terms of labor which is main important factor that might improve and lead the construction project to success and more profit in this regard Lack of supervision leadership is ranked the 12th top factor with Relative importance index (80.53 %) from the Management factor group which show a negative relation between shortage of material and labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Ghanim, Bekr (2016). the study in Jordan about main factor that influence the labor productivity in construction site. the results of the research have demonstrated that lack of supervision is ranked 8th in the overall ranking with Importance Index 71.30 which confirm the negative relation and great impact on labour productivity when the supervision is weak and invalid in construction sites in Jordan.

Dakhil1, Zaher & Faleh (2017). the research clarifies the factor affecting the low labour productivity in construction sites taken Basra City as case study, the research illustrated the top 10 factors might affect the labor productivity in construction sites in Basra City, Iraq, with regard the main group and importance ranking. the result is revealed lack of supervision comes in the 9th order with Importance ranking of managerial factors with relative importance factor (RII) of 77.92 of overall ranking of most 10 factors that impact the labor productivity in Iraq construction sites.

Jarkas,Bitar(2016). the study which applied in Kuwait about the variables and the factor affect the labor productivity was to identify the most important factor that has cause low labor productivity in Kuwait construction industries the article reveals that lack of supervision Lack of supervision is the 4th top factor with Relative importance index (81.67 %) with negative relation and significant impact on labor productivity in construction industry in Kuwait.

Naoum (2015), the researcher in the article try to determine the variables that affect the labor productivity in construction sites, 46 factors had been illustrated in which the lack of supervise the subordinate in stage of during construction was in the 10th order from total number of factors. in the article lack of supervision has a negative impact and relation with labor productivity in construction sites with relative importance index of 0.775.

?

?

?

?

?Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework objective is to illustrate the relationship between labor productivity as dependent variable in Egyptian construction industry and Shortage of Material , Shortage of tool and?equipment, Lack of Labor supervision and lack of skilled labor as independent variables according to literatures review understanding and vision, the variables that were selected as the Key important and most influencing factors that affecting on labor productivity in Egyptian construction industry .

Dependent Variable

labor productivity

labor productivity can be conceptually defined as “the ratio of outputs of goods and/or services to inputs of basic resources, e.g., labor, capital, technology, materials and energy”, (Handa , Adballa ,1989) , while from the operational perspective , labor productivity in construction industry is influenced and affected by several and many factors as per literature reviews such as shortage of material in site , lack and unavailability of skilled labor , lack of supervision and shortage of tools and equipment.

Independent Variables

Shortage of material in site

?The conceptual definition of the shortage of material in site is run out of material before completing the task , whereas the operational definition of shortage material is lead to low progress and cause low of labor productivity and leading to work disturbance and waste the time of task and cost more than planned and scheduled ,eventually cause high risk of less profit and affect the project success. In addition of studying literatures review and analysis all the data collected, the result illustrates and demonstrates that there is a great and significant influence and impact on the labor productivity in construction industry due to shortage of material in sites and negatively impact the labor productivity which obvious from the result of literature review were studied and analyzed the shortage of material in sites most factor that frequent in all factors revealed and furthermore , there was 33 studies from (1987- 2016) illustrate that the most repeated factor .thus the shortage of material consider the most and first independent factor might affect labor productivity in construction sites.

Lack of skilled labor:

The conceptual of skilled labor is defined as the segment or group of workforces that has experience that has specialized know-how, training, and experience to carry out more complex physical, or mental tasks than routine job functions. Skilled labor is generally characterized by higher education, expertise levels attained through training and experience, while the operational definition of the skilled labor as independent factor that the factor affect and cause loess and reduce labor productivity in construction activities due to the lack of competency and lack of knowledge which lead to waste time and may cause rework because of poor quality. Moreover, based on the literature review analyzing and as per data collected that demonstrate and reveals a negative relation between the lack of skilled labor and absence of competency with the labor productivity and has significant impact as the lack of skilled labor is the most factor repeated as first affecting factor labor productivity at which the lack of skilled labor affecting delay activity and task duration.????

Lack of supervision:

The conceptual definition for the lack of labor supervision is monitoring the attitude and performance in addition leading a group of labor or individual assigned for certain task or activities to be finished in proper and effective way and within planed time and budget. Where the operational definition for the lack of supervision as independent factor is which affect the labor productivity and cause loss of productivity in construction sites due to rework and poor quality that cause delay in term of time which lead low of labor productivity, in the same regard, and based on collection of data and analyzing the literature review collected that demonstrate and reveals the negative relation and thr great impact and influence of the independent factor lack of supervision on the labor productivity in construction, lack of supervision came in second variable in the data collection from literature?review based on the frequent factor and the second repeated factor among the selected variables.?

?

?

Shortage of tools and equipment

The conceptual definition of the shortage of tools and equipment is the lack of the essential and proper equipment or tools required to complete the task associated in construction project, while the operational definition for the shortage of tool and equipment as independent factor is the factor cause waste time and delay of complete construction activities which affect low of labor productivity ,on other hand the delay of arrival the tool and equipment associated to the task in construction sites affecting delay in tasks in term of time and cause decline of labor productivity overall. Reviewing the articles and analyzing the data collection that reveal the negative relation and impact on labor productivity if there is shortage in tool or equipment or delay of arrival of the tool or equipment to site, furthermore , the shortage of tools and equipment as independent factor obviously the third factor in term of repeating and frequent among the selected factors.???

?

Conceptual Framework Diagram:

The relationship between labor productivity as dependent variable and independent variables

The Diagram is depicted in below Figure

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Independent Variables

Dependent Variable

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no relationship between shortage of material in site and labor productivity.

H1: there is negative relationship between shortage material in site and labor productivity.

H0: there is no relationship between lack of skilled labor and labor productivity.

H2: there is negative relationship between lack of skilled labor and labor productivity.

H0: there is no relationship between lack of supervision and labor productivity.

H3: there is negative relationship between lack of supervision and labor productivity.

H0: there is no relationship between shortage of tools and equipment and labor productivity.

H4: there is negative relationship between shortage of tool and equipment and labor productivity.

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Research Design and Methodology

Introduction

???????????This chapter purpose is to explain and clarify the blueprint of the study and method used in this research and to demonstrate the research methodology that used to collect the data and data source. additionally, identify the target population, sample size and sample size design in order to analysis the data collected with an appropriate data analysis technique that let to understand the factor impact the labor productivity in construction industry in Egypt.

Research Design???

The research design refers to the plan or strategy that guide the research elements and arrangement of research process including the research purpose, target population, unit analysis, sample size, and data collection with analysis in order to interoperation the data analyzed to demonstrate and reveal the research conclusion.

???In this study descriptive research is conducted to describe in detail for understanding the extend and how much the factor related to labor like supervision or skills and the factor not related to the labor like shortage of material or shortage of tool and equipment affecting the labor productivity in construction site in Egypt as targeted population using hypotheco-deductive method in which develop the hypothesis and then tested by using quantitative and qualitative data collection and conducting an appropriate measurement and tool, the survey of questionnaire is anticipated to gathering the data.?????????????

Study Area

????????the study conducted in private sector company that working in construction industries as amin contractor (Orascom company for construction, Hassan Allam company for construction) in Egypt, the reason behind chosen is that main contractors as private companies is more concerned and highly appreciated the value of the labor productivity that consider as main factor that led to more successes and increasing the benefits of the organization .based on that the data collected will be more relevant and valued to the individuals who appreciated and know the value of the labor productivity.

?

?

?

Study Population??????

???????????The population refer to all items or elements in particular group that has the same characteristics in specific relevant study. In this study the population include employees who working in the private construction companies in construction sites including all titles and disciplines assigned in all type of project including industrial, commercial, residential and infrastructure projects in Egypt who work full time with monthly payment salaries in Orascom for construction company and Hassan Allam for construction Company. The population is 45,210 employees work in both companies, Orascom company 26,960 as of annual report December 2018 and Hassan Allam company 18,250 as of December 2018, which contain engineers, administrators, human resources employees in both sites and head office for both companies , in the same context the total number of engineers work in construction sites is 37,720 engineers work in construction sites for Orascom company and 2,920 engineers work in construction sites for Hassan Allam respectively?

Sampling and Sample Size

The purposive sampling designed is used in this study in order to gather the relevant data related to study, purposive sampling is non-portability sampling used to judgment in specific subject , engineers working in construction site was selected as specific group based on the engineers working in site are the best person who interested in the labor productivity and have direct contact and supervised the labor in construction activities in order to give the relevant data and information regarding the labor productivity in construction site and the engineers group was selected from both private construction companies like Orascom construction company and Hassan Allam construction company as main contractor assigned in construction project inside Egypt.

The sample size is determined based on the total site engineers work in construction site in both Orascom and Hassan Allam companies, site engineers is as project manager, construction manager, team leader and site engineer whom work in all type of construction projects such as industrial, commercial, residential and infrastructure projects therefore , the sample size required is 364 respondents as per the population size of 6,640 engineers?and due to the lack of time to gather the data convenience sample anticipated in term of the availability of the sample unit.

?

?

Data Collection

Both primary and secondary data source are used, primary data as questionnaire and secondary data source as extensive review of literatures related to the study done by other researchers. Predetermined Questionnaire prepared by which the questions have two type , closed-ended and open-ended questions in order to avoid biases of the researcher and to get the relevant data of respondents , the questionnaire designed from general to specific order divided into five parts contain 14 questions with asking the respondents for the dependent and independent variable that relevant to the study, Labor productivity (4 questions ) as dependent variable and 10 questions distributed in the independent variables Equipment, tools ( 4 questions ), Material ( 2 questions ), Skilled labor (2 question ) and Labor supervision (2 questions ) using 4-point Liker scale range from 1- strongly disagree, 2-disagree , 3-agree and 4- strongly agree , 117 respondents had received and it should be 364 respondents the reason behind that is time constrain.???????

Data Analysis

??????the data gathered from the questionnaire is analyzed using the appropriate software as Minitab 18 and Microsoft excel, Chi-square test for association applied in Minitab 18 to test the hypothesis which developed in theoretical framework and test the relation between the labor productivity in construction site as dependent variable and the lack skill of labor, lack of labor supervision, shortage of material in site and shortage of equipment and tools in sites as independent variables. Chi-square test for association is to test the relation between variables testing the null hypothesis in term of P-value which indicates rejection of the null hypothesis if p-value less than 0.05 and support the null hypothesis if p-value is more than 0.05.

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

the outcome of the Chi-square test listed below:

-??????Test the relationship between the labor productivity as dependent variable and shortage of equipment and tools as in dependent variable

H0: there is no relationship between the labor productivity and shortage of equipment and tools.

H1: there is strong relationship between the labor productivity and shortage of equipment and tools.

The diagnostic report of chi-square test indicates that the smallest expected counts is 9.4 which is more than 1 that ensure the validity of P-value of the test.

Chi-square test for association indicates that the p-value is less than 0.001 which less than 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected due to the P-value in favor of the alternative hypothesis so that there is strong relation between the labor productivity and the shortage of equipment and tools in construction site in Egypt.

-??????Test the relationship between the labor productivity as dependent variable and shortage of materials as in dependent variable.

H0: there is no relationship between the labor productivity and shortage of material.

H1: there is strong relationship between the labor productivity and materials.

The diagnostic report of chi-square test indicates that the smallest expected counts is 6.3 which is more than 1 that ensure the validity of P-value of the test.

Chi-square test for association indicates that the p-value is less than 0.001 which less than 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected due to the P-value in favor of the alternative hypothesis so that there is strong relation between the labor productivity and the shortage of materials in construction site in Egypt.

-??????Test the relationship between the labor productivity as dependent variable and lack of skilled labor as in dependent variable

H0: there is no relationship between the labor productivity and lack of skilled labor.

H1: there is strong relationship between the labor productivity and lack of skilled labor.

The diagnostic report of chi-square test indicates that the smallest expected counts is 6.3 which is more than 1 that ensure the validity of P-value of the test.

?

The Chi-square test for association indicates that the p-value is less than 0.001 which less than 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected due to the P-value in favor of the alternative hypothesis so that there is strong relation between the labor productivity and the lack of skilled labor in construction site in Egypt.

?

-??????Test the relationship between the labor productivity as dependent variable and lack of labor supervision as in dependent variable

H0: there is no relationship between the labor productivity and lack of labor supervision.

H1: there is strong relationship between the labor productivity and lack of labor supervision.

The diagnostic report of chi-square test indicates that the smallest expected counts is 8.6 which is more than 1 that ensure the validity of P-value of the test.

Chi-square test for association indicates that the p-value is less than 0.001 which less than 0.05. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected due to the P-value in favor of the alternative hypothesis so that there is strong relation between the labor productivity and the lack labor supervision in construction site in Egypt.

?

?

Conclusion

???????????The shortage of equipment and tools, shortage of material, lack of skilled labor and lack of labor supervision as independent variables has the significate impact on the labor productivity in construction sites as dependent variable.

Shortage of material and shortage of equipment and tools as labor non-related factors most affective factor that has direct impact and significant effect respectively on the labor productivity on construction sites in Egypt which come in the first categories whereas, the lack of skilled labor and lack of labor supervision as labor related factors is come in the second categories that has the significant affect respectively on the labor productivity in construction site in Egypt as per the questionnaire respondents received. Therefore, the construction companies should pay the attention on availability of the material by enhancing the procurement and logistics management in order increase the labor productivity in construction sites.

The labor productivity in construction sites affect the whole organization performance which has a direct impact on the organization successes and benefits that enhance the total Gross Domestic Productivity GDP of the entire country as desired situation.????

References

Abdel-Wahab, M.S., Dainty, A.R.J, Ison, S.G., Bowen, P. and Hazlehurst, G. (2008), “Trends

of skills and productivity in the UK construction industry”, Engineering, Construction

and Architectural Management, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 372-382.

Abdul Kadir, M.R., Lee, W.P., Jaafar, M.S., Sapuan, S.M. and Ali, A.A.A. (2005), “Factors

affecting construction labour productivity for Malaysian residential projects”, Structural

Survey, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 42-54

Abdulaziz M. Jarkas, Ph.D.; and Camille G. Bitar, (2016), Factors Affecting Construction

Labor Productivity in Kuwait, journal of construction engineering and management,

asce / july 2012 / 811 j. constr. eng. manage., 2012, 138(7): 811-820, Kuwait.

Ammar J. Dakhil1, 2- Zaher M. Naji2 and 3- Saddam K. Faleh,(2017), factors affecting

construction labour productivity in Iraq using Basra city as a case study, Iraq, Kufa

Journal of Engineering Vol. 8, No. 3, October 2017, P.P. 55-75.

CERM-Previous Issues. Azharcermjournal.com. (2020). Retrieved 16 July 2020, from

https://azharcermjournal.com/issues.html.

Dr. Ghanim A. Bekr,( 2016) Study of Significant Factors Affecting Labor Productivity at

Construction Sites in Jordan: Site Survey, Journal of Engineering Technology (JET),

Jourdan, Vol.4 No.1.

Djoen San Santoso and Polwatta Gallage Madusha Piumal Gallage,(2019), Critical factors

affecting the performance of large construction projects in developing countries A case

study of Sri Lanka, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.

Egyptian Ministry of administrative reform &planning, Egypt in Figures 2019. (2019).

Estate Management Joint Study Programme of Metropolia UAS and HTW Berlin, American

Journal of Civil Engineering. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2014, pp. 35-40.

Essays, UK. (November 2018). Factors Affecting Labor Productivity of the Construction

Workers in Bangladesh. Retrieved from https://ukdiss.com/examples/laborproductivity-of-the-construction-workers.php?vref=1

Hasan, A., Baroudi, B., Elmualim, A. and Rameezdeen, R. (2018), "Factors affecting

construction productivity: a 30 year systematic review", Engineering, Construction and

Architectural Management, Vol. 25 No. 7, pp. 916-

937. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-02-2017-0035

Herif M. Hafez, Remon F. Aziz, Enas S. Morgan, Madeha M. Abdullah, Eman K.

Ahmed,2014, Critical Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity in

Egypt, American Journal of Civil Engineering. Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 35-40.

M. Hafez, S. (2020). Critical Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity in Egypt.

journal of management in engineering, Vol. 30, Issue 1 (January 2014).

Mahmoud Elazzazy, (2020), Factors affecting construction labor productivity in developed

and developing countries –Master thesis, International Master of Science in

Construction and Real Estate Management.

Marzouk, M. M., & El-Rasas, T. I. (2014). Analyzing delay causes in Egyptian construction

projects. Journal of Advanced Research, 5(1), 49-55.

Michael Gerges, Ograbe Ahiakwo, Remon Aziz, Georgios Kapogiannis, Messaoud Saidani

and Danah Saraireh (2016), Investigating and Ranking Labor Productivity Factors in

the Egyptian Construction Industry, United Kingdom.

Ministry of Finance- Home. Mof.gov.eg. (2020). Retrieved 16 July 2020, from

https://www.mof.gov.eg/English/Pages/Home.aspx.

Naoum, (2015), Factors influencing labor productivity on construction sites, International

Journal of Productivity and Performance Management Vol. 65 No. 3, 2016 pp. 401-

421, UK.

Parviz Ghoddousi1, Mohammad Reza Hosseini, (2010), a survey of the factors affecting the

productivity of construction projects in Iran, Technological and economics

development of economy, ISSN 2029-4913 print/ISSN 2029-4921 online, 2012

Volume 18(1): 99–116