The industrial trade is just one of the areas that has been affected by the credit crunch in Britain .  With lending on mortgages at an all time low, houses that would have been sold within a week are clinging on to their for sale status for much much longer.  The big house builders such as Barrett and Persimmon homes have announced huge job losses and redundancy pay outs.  Some property developers have even taken the step of halting further building for the short term.

If you take for instance Sheffield which used to have a booming steel trade, in recent years Sheffield has has a thriving building industry.  With the University of Sheffield extending, old buildings have been demolished to make way for new buildings.

The housing market has also been at an all time high, with every piece of land sold being built on.  The most popular developments have been the inner city living ones, with thousands of flats being built on old disused works.

Unfortunately, now on Sheffields skyline the cranes can still be seen, but there is no building happening on any site.  As the credit crunch takes hold the industrial trade comes to a stand still.

Although the big companies are suffering and having to make redundancies, it will be the smaller companies who end up closing down, due to the position of the economy around the world at the moment.  It will be the suppliers who have a relatively small workforce that will feel the down turn in the economy more than most.

Some small companies which only have around 10 employees, are finding that they have less work, so have little choice but to lay workers off, to enable the business to keep afloat.  Some are working with minimum work force, but are finding at times that skeleton staff can prove to be too much.

Tradesmen who over the last 10 years have found work easily within the perimeters of their home town are finding that they cannot find work.  Employers often employing immigrants who work less.  The tradesmen are now having to travel to enable them to earn a living.  Often finding themselves in a position where they are having to pay for not only their mortgage at home, but also having to provide for food and lodgings out of time.  This is bearly keeping some workers afloat, but they have to make these sacrifices in order to keep their homes.

Estate Agents who have been paying out huge bonuses to staff over the past 10 years, due to the rise in the economy, now find themselves making redundancies and closing down shops. 

It has been predicted that the economy should change within the next two years, and there will be more cheap mortgages available for first time buyers.  This will help with the housing market, therefore having a knock on effect to the industrial and building trade.  Hopefully these predications will be correct, and the industrial trade will get back on an even keal soon.