New figures have revealed the impact the economic downturn has taken on Scotland's construction industry.

The Scottish Building Federation (SBF) has revealed a total of 62,500 jobs have been lost in the sector over the last five years.

This number outstrips the total number of jobs lost from the Scottish economy over the same period.

Latest labour market figures from Scotland's Annual Population Survey also show the construction sector cut a further 14,500 jobs in 2012, to bring the total employment within the Scottish industry to 172,700.

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This is the lowest level of construction-related employment in Scotland since current records began in 2004.

Commenting on the statistics, Scottish Building Federation Executive Director Michael Levack said: "We already know about the tough times building firms are currently experiencing. But these figures lay bare the huge extent of the damage done to the construction industry by the economic downturn.

"Over the past five years, more jobs have been lost from the building sector than from the Scottish economy as a whole. Since 2008, we’ve lost more than a quarter of our workforce, which is nothing short of staggering."

The SBF has written to both Scottish and UK Government Ministers to draw their attention to the new figures and to urge them to take continued action to rebuild industry capacity.

(JP/CD)