Description of Building and Construction Sector Data
1. Data Source
Building and construction sector is one of the important economic sectors since it is
considered to be the base of infrastructure of the national economy. This report includes the
prices index numbers of construction materials and workers wages in public and private
sectors and index numbers of building & construction cost taken 2007 as a base year where
the first index number has been calculated since 1981.
Wage index number is considered to be one of the important economic indicators in
analyzing cost elements and comparing wages in the different economic sectors as well as
defining and comparing workers incomes with the general level of prices.
2. Methodology
72 out of 96 materials mentioned in the 2007 annual Building and construction statistics
report were selected for calculating their index numbers which representing 75% of total
materials and 85.3% of total materials value while 64 out of 74 materials mentioned in 2007
private sector buildings statistics report were selected representing 86.5% of total materials
and 99.6% of total materials value. Index number of the rest of materials have not been
calculated owing to:
1. Low relative importance.
2. Instability of specifications and inconformity of measurement units during
calculation period.
3. Instability of quantities used during calculation period.
2007 was taken as a base year in the calculation of index numbers instead of 1988 where
the value of materials used in building and construction were adopted in the calculation of
fixed weightings .
Prices and quality of building materials are main factors affecting building cost, size of
demand also affects prices where investments increase demand on different construction
materials which resulted in high prices .
There are three types of index numbers for construction materials prices:
1. Price index numbers of materials used in public sector.
2. Price index numbers of materials used in private sector.
3. Price index numbers of materials used in building and construction sector ( public
& private)
Production activity in all stages still considerably depends on the human factor where
number of workers in the base year was considered as a fixed weight for each group of
workers types as wage rates in comparison year of each type have been weighted according
to the number of workers of the same type in the base year.
Coverage: All governorates have been covered excluding Kurdistan Region.
Work Duration: Approximately one month.
3. Concepts and Definitions( Indicators):
Construction Materials whose index numbers were calculated in public and private sectors
were classified into 14 groups:
1. Bricks: ( common , thermostone) in public sector and ( common, …, cored ) in
private sector.
2. Block: ( large, medium and small size) in public and private sectors.
3. Stone: ( crushed, facing , raw) in public sector and ( crushed, raw) in private sector.
4. Sand: ( black , white) in public and private sectors.
5. Gravel: (ordinary, other , crushed) in public sector and (ordinary, other) in private
sector.
6. Cement: (ordinary, resistant, white) in public and private sectors.
7. Gypsum: ( ordinary, other, plaster) in public sector and ( ordinary) in public sector.
8. Tile: ( regular, mosaic, marble, ceramic, natural stone)in public sector and (regular,
mosaic, marble, ceramic, molding ceramic, natural stone)in private sector.
9. Iron: ( structural steel sections, mild steel reinforcement, chicken wire, steel) in
public sector and (structural steel sections, mild steel reinforcement) in private
sector.
10. Doors: ( wood, teak wood, Iron, Aluminum) in public and private sectors.
11. Windows: (Iron, Aluminum) in public and private sectors.
12. Sanitary installations: ( pipes, cast iron drain pipe, plastic pipes, wash hand basin,
manhole, tank, sink, tab, aspistos pipes, locks) in public sector and ( pipes, cast iron
drain pipe, plastic pipes, wash hand basin, bathtub, tank, sink) in private sector.
13. Electrical installations: ( pipes, wire, switch gear, socket outlet, circuit breaker,
board, switch wire) in public sector and (pipes, wire, switch gear, socket outlet,
circuit breaker) in private sector.
14. Others ( unclassified): ( concrete pipes, glass, air ducts, internal secondary roofs,
stair case, felt, stair platforms, asphalt concrete, air-conditions, iron fences, concrete
columns, iron truss) in public sector and ( glass, stair platforms, staircase, felt,
internal secondary roofs, chicken wire) in private sector.
4. Classifications:
All the categories of occupations in public and private sectors mentioned in the
report were selected for the calculation of index numbers as follows:
Occupations in public sector:
1. Engineers
2. Technicians
3. Administrators
4. Workers
5. Drivers, machine ( equipment) operators
6. Guards and other workers
Occupations in public sector:
1. Skilled workers
2. Semi-skilled workers
3. Unskilled workers
Due to the difference in workers classification in both public and private sector, index
number of Building and Construction sector has been calculated by using relative
importance ( weight) of wages for both sectors in the base year noting that total wages in
the base year represents total average wages in the base year for each occupation weighted
by number of workers in the same occupation and year.
5. Method of Calculation
Fixed weights of materials and workers wages have been calculated as follows:
As:
Building ( construction) cost = materials value + total wages paid,
Materials value in the base year
Materials weight =
× 100
Building cost in the base year
Total wages paid in the base year
Wages weight =
× 100
Building cost in the base year
After defining the fixed weights of each building cost element and calculation of their index
numbers , the index number of building cost in public and private sectors can be obtained
according to the following formula:
(index number of materials prices ×materials weight)+wages index × wages weight)
Building cost index
Number In the sector
100
After the calculation of Building cost index numbers in both public and private sectors, the
Building cost index numbers of the entire sector is constructed after the calculation of sector
weight in terms of cost as follows:
Buildings and constructions cost in building and construction sector = buildings cost in
public sector + buildings cost in private sector
Buildings & constructions cost in the sector in the base year
Sector weight =
× 100
Buildings & constructions cost of the entire sector in the base year
(index number of buildings and constructions in public sector × weight)+
Buildings & constructions
(index number of buildings and constructions in public sector × weight)
Cost Index number of =
Building & construction sector
100
6. Data Availability
 Index numbers data of building and construction sector are disseminated at
Iraq level excluding Kurdistan Region.
 The report has been annually produced since 1962.
 Data are available on CSO web in PDF and Excel format.