SCOTLAND'S construction sector has laid off more people in the last five years than there are in the whole of Inverness, new figures suggest.

Updated labour market figures from Scotland's Annual Population Survey indicate 62,500 building jobs have been lost since 2008.

Last year, 14,500 construction workers lost their job, bringing total employment in the sector down to 172,700, the lowest level of construction employment since current records began in 2004.

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.

"Since 2008 we've lost more than one-quarter of our workforce, which is nothing short of staggering."

The Scottish Building Federation has written to Scottish and UK government ministers to urge them to increase industry capacity.

Mr Levack said: "Job losses of this scale require the Scottish and UK governments to adopt a targeted strategy to rebuild capacity. That must include tax measures such as cutting VAT on building repairs and maintenance to stimulate industry activity. There must be more focused support to help building companies recruit and retain apprentices. We also need to see a sustained effort to prioritise public investment in construction activity and further measures to streamline planning and procurement to get projects off the ground more quickly."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We are absolutely committed to supporting the construction sector through these tough economic times. Earlier this year we started work on a £205 mil-lion package of public construction and maintenance projects, which is estimated to support approximately 2000 jobs across Scotland in 2013-14 and will particularly benefit the construction sector.

"Against the backdrop of a 20% cut to capital budgets by the UK Government, we are investing more than £10 billion in capital spending in Scotland, building homes, schools and transport projects over the period until 2014-15 to promote growth, employment and opportunity in the construction sector.

"Scotland needs independence so the Scottish Parliament can have full control over taxation, borrowing and spending to determine investment priorities and allowing our construction sector to make a full recovery."

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said: "The loss of so many jobs in construction is a stark reminder of just how difficult a time the industry has had in Scotland. It is vital construction recovers if we want to see the economy growing as a whole.

"The SNP talks a good game on construction but consistently fails to deliver. They promised to spend almost £500m on new schools and hospitals through its much trumpeted NPD scheme but have failed spectacularly. They need to get their act together and speed up their procurement process so we can get shovels into the ground."

Inverness has a population of around 57,960, according to General Register Office for Scotland estimates released last year.