Abstract
The construction industry has been dealing with drastic changes over the past years, changes
that result in a number of negative consequences one of them being job insecurity. These
changes concern issues such as increased economic dependency between countries, rapidly
changing consumer markets and escalated demands for flexibility within as well as between
organisations. However, it is an organisations’ responsibility to manage the changes
accordingly to avoid issues such as job insecurity. Hence this paper theoretically discuses job
insecurity in the construction industry. The study was conducted with reference to existing
theoretical literature, published and unpublished research. The study is mainly a literature
review/survey on job insecurity in the construction industry. Literature revealed that
employment downsizing, financial crisis, lack of experience and training, technological
changes, racism, gender and lack of education were the major causes of job insecurity in the
construction industry. The current study is a theoretical assessment of job insecurity in the
construction industry and the study contributes to the body of knowledge on the subject of job
insecurity in the construction industry.