The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that employment in the construction industry had an annual drop of 15.2% in June.
The construction jobs index fell from 109.8 in June 2007 to 93.1 a year later.
The news comes after buildings materials firm Readymix announced losses of €9.6 million for the first six months of the year.
In an interim statement, the company said it expected the downturn in the sector to continue well into next year.
The CSO also confirmed that the final figure for May showed a fall of 14.5% when compared to the same month in 2007.
