AU2008201962A1 - Computational apparatus and method for modelling employment - Google Patents

Description

P/00/0O11 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: Computational apparatus and method for modelling employment The following statement is a full description of this Invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 005397752 P100/009 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA 5 Patents Act 1990 10 DRAFT COMPLETE SPECIFICATION 15 Invention Title: Computational apparatus and method for modelling employment 20 The invention is described in the following statement: 2 Computational methods and apparatus for modelling employment Technical Field The present invention relates to methods for performing modelling and/or analysis. More particularly, the invention relates to method of modelling and/or 5 analysis relating to the field of construction development. The invention also relates to computational apparatus adapted to perform modelling and/or analysis. Background The process of developing a property involves significant resources and often significantly affects the area in which the development occurs. For example, a large 10 scale combined residential and commercial development can affect the local area by the resources required for construction and the additional population that the development can bring to the area. Regulatory authorities, such as local councils in Australia, may consider the positive or negative short and long term effects of a proposed development on the 15 area in which it is proposed before either giving the development approval, or refusing consent to proceed with the development. The local council may consider a wide range of factors in making its decision. Accordingly there is a need to identify and develop methods to measure objectively the effects of a proposed construction development. 20 Summary of the invention According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a computational modelling method for modelling employment relating to a construction development, the method comprising: receiving at an interface to a computational apparatus first input data, the first 25 input data including a measure of utilisation for employment of construction of a plurality of different types, including at least two types selected from the group: residential construction; retail construction; commercial construction; industrial construction; education construction; health construction; aged care construction; government construction; and community construction; 30 receiving at an interface to the computational apparatus second input data, the second input data including at least one multiplier for employment created by construction of construction types defined in the first input data; 3 receiving at an interface to the computational apparatus third input data, the third input data including a measure of the difference in a measure of quantity of construction of the types defined in the first input data that exist prior to and following the construction development; 5 processing the first, second and third input data so as to apply said measure of utilisation and said at least one multiplier to the third input data to determine at least one numerical measure of employment as a result of construction of the construction development and at least one numerical measure of employment resulting from utilisation of the completed construction; and 10 outputting results of the processing of the determination of said numerical measures of employment. In one embodiment, the first input data includes a measure of the utilisation for employment of at least residential construction and retail construction. The first input data may further include a measure of the utilisation for employment of 15 commercial construction and industrial construction. The first data may further include a measure of the utilisation for employment of education construction, health construction, aged care construction, government construction and community construction. In one embodiment, the first input data includes a plurality of measures of the 20 utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes of retail construction, and wherein the measure used in the step of processing in relation to a particular retail construction in the construction development depends on the classification of that retail construction. The plurality of measures of the utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes retail construction may include 25 one measure for buildings for the retail of bulky products and another measure for other classifications of retail construction in the construction development. In one embodiment, the first input data includes a plurality of measures of the utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes of commercial construction and wherein the measure used in the step of processing in relation to a 30 particular commercial building in the construction development depends on the classification of that commercial building. The classes of commercial building may include office and head office. The classes of commercial building may include call centre. In one embodiment, the first input data includes a plurality of measures of the 35 utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes of industrial 4 construction and wherein the measure used in the step of processing in relation to a particular industrial construction in the construction development depends on the classification of that industrial construction. In one embodiment, the first input data includes a measure of utilisation for 5 employment of residential construction and said measure includes a proportion of residential buildings in the area of the construction development that have home based businesses and a measure of average number of employees per home-based business. In one embodiment, the method further includes: 10 receiving fourth input data, the fourth input data including a multiplier for total employment of the population in the location of the construction development and a change in population in the area due to the construction development; and processing the fourth input data to determine a total numerical measure for employment and subtracting from said total numerical measure a total numerical 15 measure of employment determined from the first, second and third input data to determine a numerical measure of off--site employment due to the construction development; and outputting the numerical measure of off-site employment due to the construction development. 20 The process of receiving fourth input data may include receiving a first value for average occupancy per residential building, receiving a second value for the number of buildings due to the construction development and multiplying the first and second values to determine said change in population in the area due to the construction development. 25 In one embodiment, the second input data includes data defining a total value of the construction in the construction development and at least one multiplier for the area that indicates the number of employees to construct the construction per unit value. The method may include determining the total value of residential construction in the construction development as the product of the number of 30 residential buildings and the value per residential building in the construction development. The method may include determining the total value of non-residential construction in the construction development as the product of the area occupied by the non-residential construction and the value per unit area of the non-residential construction in the construction development. The value per unit area used may be 35 different for different types of non-residential construction. Different values per unit 5 area may be used for commercial and industrial construction in the construction development. A different value per unit area may be used for retail construction than for at least one type of non-residential building. In one embodiment, the second input data includes a first multiplier for 5 employment created on-site of the construction development and a second multiplier, different from the first multiplier, for employment created off-site of the construction development. The second multiplier may be determined as a proportion of the first multiplier. Different multipliers may be used for residential and non-residential construction in the construction development. 10 In one embodiment, the method includes determining said at least one measure of employment as a result of construction and said at least one numerical measure of employment resulting from utilisation of the completed construction at completion at and a time before completion. The time before completion may be a current time. The steps of processing and outputting may include determining the 15 additional employment as result of the construction development between the time before completion and at completion. In one embodiment, the method includes determining said at least one measure of employment as a result of construction and said at least one numerical measure of employment resulting from utilisation of the completed construction at a 20 plurality of times before completion. One of said plurality of times before completion may include at or before commencement of the construction development. The method may include accounting for changes in the cost of construction between the plurality of times before completion. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a 25 computational apparatus when adapted to perform the method described in the preceding paragraphs. The adaptation may be the inclusion of instructions in memory that when executed perform the method. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium including instructions that when performed by a 30 computational apparatus, cause the computational apparatus to perform the method described herein above. Further aspects of the present invention and further embodiments of the aspects described in the preceding claims will become apparent from the following description, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying 35 drawings.

6 Brief description of the drawings Figure 1: Shows a high-level flow diagram of a process performed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Figure 2: Shows a more detailed example of a first type of input data that 5 may be provided to perform the process of Figure 1. Figure 3: Shows a more detailed example of a second type of input data that may be provided to perform the process of Figure 1. Figure 4: Shows a more detailed example of a third type of input data that may be provided to perform the process of Figure 1. 10 Figure 5: Shows an example of possible types of output data from the process of Figure 1. Figure 6: Shows an example of the output data shown in Figure 5. Detailed Description Figure 1 shows, at a high level of generality, a process performed in 15 accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Computational environment The process may be performed on any computational device, which has been adapted to perform the steps described herein. This adaptation may be achieved, for example, by providing software to program a standard desktop computer to perform 20 the process. The software may be provided in memory of the computer, loaded from a removable storage device, or communicated to the computer from a remote source, for example through the Internet. In the following description, implementation using a computer 10 has been assumed. However, those skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate other computational devices that may be adapted to perform the 25 process of the present invention. General process The process involves forming a model of the effects a construction development may have on employment. As described herein below, the effects of a construction development on employment include the employment involved in 30 construction and employment by businesses that occupy the construction development.

7 In step 1, input data is received by the computer 10. This input data represents the characteristics of the construction development and provides the information required to model employment from the construction development. In step 2, the input data is processed, by applying the third input data 13 to the other 5 input data that has been provided and in step 3 the results of this processing is output as output data 01. In one embodiment, the input data comprises five types of input data 11 - 15. A more basic implementation may use only input data 11 - 13. Other embodiments may use one or the other of input data 14 and 15. 10 Much of the information required for the input data 11 to 15 may be available from a statistical analysis entity. For example, a government agency that analyses Census information may publish or otherwise make available relevant information. In Australia, relevant information can be obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Further information may be obtained through historical records of 15 construction developers, through liaising with experts in the field, or otherwise. The information preferably defines characteristics of the location in which the construction development is located or is to be located. The level of generality of the information may vary depending on what is available. For example, highly specific information may be obtained for a construction development by conducting a survey of 20 occupants of the construction development. More general information may be obtained by using averages from the suburb in which the construction development is to be located and increasingly general information may be obtained by using information for the city, state or country of the construction development. It is expected that, in general, the higher the level of specificity in the information, the 25 more accurate the model is likely to be. The information may be obtained by conducting an audit of properties in the relevant area. For example, for a construction development that has yet to be commenced, a survey of households and businesses in the surrounding area may be conducted to obtain the required information. For a construction development that 30 has been partially completed, and which has occupants in it, a survey of the occupants in the construction development may be conducted to obtain much of the information. Within each general type of input data, there is a number of different sub types and/or classes of input data. The following description provides an example of 35 an expected useful level of specificity for the input data. However, other levels of 8 specificity and other classification methods may be used as required. In general, the specific input data required to be entered will depend on what information is expected to be available. This may depend on the extent which relevant statistical research is conducted in the area (or the extent to which the developer is prepared to conduct its 5 own research), the availability of this research, how this research is presented and whether there is a statistically significant difference between different measures. First input data - utilisation for employment Figure 2 shows more detail of the input data 11. The input data 11 represents measures of the utilisation of the construction development for the purposes of 10 employment, or information from which such measures can be determined. In the example shown in Figure 2, nine types of first input data representing the utilisation of various types of construction in the construction development are provided. Some types of input data are included in a plurality of different classes. The types of input data shown in Figure 2 are explained in more detail below. 15 Residential construction - utilisation of residential construction for the purposes of employment consists of home-based businesses. The information used to form this input data may include information regarding the proportion of households in the area of the construction development that have home-based businesses and a measure of the average number of employees per home-based 20 business. This measure may for example be either the mean or mode. Further specificity may be provided in some embodiments, for example using separate measures for detached dwellings and attached dwellings, using separate measures for properties with different numbers of bedrooms, or otherwise depending on the availability of this data and on the perceived value in providing the increased 25 specificity. Retail construction - utilisation of retail construction for the purposes of employment may be measured by the area utilised per employee in the retail space. Either a single value may be used for all retail construction, or different values may be provided for different classes of retail construction. Again, a suitable average 30 such as the mean or mode from the area in which the construction development may be used. In the example shown in Figure 2, two classes of retail construction are shown, general retail and bulky retail (i.e. construction of retail shops that specialise in relatively bulky goods). For example, the input data may specify that for general 9 retail, one employee is employed per 25 square metres of retail construction space, whereas for bulky retail, one employee may be employed per 35 square metres of retail construction space. Commercial construction - similarly to retail construction, employment may be 5 measured by the average area utilised per employee. In the example shown, different measures of the area utilised per employee are provided for the classes of offices, head offices and call centres. Industrial construction - similarly to retail and commercial construction, employment may be measured by the average area utilised per employee. In the 10 example shown, different measures of the area utilised per employee are provided for the classes of light, medium and large scale low intensity construction. The other types of first input data, namely education construction, health construction (e.g. hospitals, clinics, specialist health facilities), aged care construction, government construction (e.g. civic buildings), and community 15 construction (e.g. sporting and recreational centres) may also be provided in the form of the area utilised per employee for these types of construction. Where applicable, one or more of these types of construction may include a plurality of classes. Second input data - employment for construction Figure 3 shows the second input data 12 in more detail. The input data 12 20 consists of or is formed from information that identifies the level of employment resulting from construction of the construction development. In the example provided, it is assumed that the information regarding employment from construction is in the form of employees per unit value of the construction development. For example, the data may be in the form of employees 25 per $1,000,000 value. These are the 'multipliers' shown in Figure 3. In the example shown, two multipliers are provided, one for residential construction and another for non-residential construction. Again, more specificity may be provided if required. For example different multipliers may be used to distinguish between industrial and retail or commercial construction. 30 If the developer is involved in the modelling process, then it is expected that the developer would have a reasonable view as to the cost of development for each site in the construction development. The value used could then be this cost of development.

10 If the developer is not involved the modelling process, then industry averages may be used, varied required depending on the specific nature of the construction development. In the example shown in Figure 3, individual values for the various types of construction previously referred to in relation to the input data 11 have been 5 used. However, in a more basic implementation, a single value per unit area may be used for all residential construction and a single value used for all non-residential construction. In the example provided, it is recognized that for residential construction, there may be a significant difference between the cost of construction of attached 10 and detached buildings. Accordingly, two classes of value for residential buildings are provided, one for attached buildings and one for detached buildings. For the other types of construction, only a single classification for each type has been used. Third input data - construction development characteristics Figure 4 shows the third input data 13 in more detail. The input data 13 15 consists of or is formed from information that identifies the change in employment affecting construction as a result of the construction development. In the example shown, this information includes both current information and information identifying the expected state of the construction development at completion of the development. This may allow a developer and others to track the 20 employment associated with the construction development during the lifetime of the construction development. This may allow, for example, for the model to be checked against actual employment characteristics. For example, following completion of certain stages of a large construction development, a survey of occupants of the construction development may be conducted and a variance analysis completed (see 25 herein below). Where applicable and not already included, the third input data 13 may also include the cost of construction of the required infrastructure for the construction development. Fourth input data - population characteristics 30 Referring again to Figure 1, the fourth input data 14 includes characteristics of the population expected to occupy the construction development. The characteristics may be of the population in the location of the construction development. Depending on the available information for forming the fourth input data, the location may be the 11 suburb in which the construction development is located, the city, the state, or the country. In one embodiment, the population characteristics include information indicating an average number of people per household and the proportion of people 5 who are in employment. The latter measure may be an average, taking into account both part-time and full-time work and expressing this in terms of equivalent full-time working persons. As discussed herein below, the population characteristics can be used for determining offsite long term employment associated with the construction 10 development. Fifth input data - price index variation The fifth input data 15 includes changes in a producer price index over time. The fifth input data 15 may be used to determine the value of the construction development and how this value may change, for example due to inflation. 15 As discussed herein below, changes in the producer price index may be used to determine the employment as a result of construction of the construction development based on a multiplier determined as of a previous date. An example of a producer price index is produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Variance analysis 20 Where the variance analysis indicates a difference, then the input data for the model may be varied to reflect this difference. For example, it may be found that there is a lower proportion of households with home-based businesses, or that there is a higher density of employees per unit area than the originally input information indicated. If this is believed to be a 25 characteristic of the area in which the construction development is located or a characteristic of the occupants of the construction development, then the adjusted figure may be used for the purposes of future modelling of the construction development. The variance analysis may in some situations allow for a change in the 30 planning of the construction development. For example, if one of the key requirements of the construction development was a certain number of equivalent full-time positions and it was found that less than these number of positions where resulting in reality in comparison to the model, then the adjusted figures may be used 12 to update the model and the mix of construction types or extent of construction may be varied to achieve or get closer to the required amount of employment creation. Processing the input data In one embodiment, the following computations are performed in step 2 of 5 Figure 1: 1 Modelling of home-based business employment. 2 Modelling of business employment. 3 Modelling of employment due to non-residential construction. 4 Modelling of employment due to residential construction. 10 5 Modelling of on-site and off-site long term employment. 6 Totalling of the employment modelling. Example computations for each of these are described below, using the example inputs described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. Each of the calculations may be completed for a current value, which may be before commencement of, or 15 during construction of the construction development, and/or at completion of the construction development. Home-based business employment In one embodiment, this is calculated as the product of the number of residential buildings (third input data 13), the proportion of residential buildings that 20 are occupied by people employed in a home-based businesses (input data 11) and a measure of the average number of people employed in home-based business (input data 11). The calculations for home-based business employment may be the same for all houses in the construction development. Alternatively, particularly where 25 distinctions are made between residential buildings and other parts of the model, for example referring to attached or detached buildings, separate calculations may be made for each class of residential building. Business employment In one embodiment, business employment is calculated as the total area 30 occupied by the various types of construction in the construction development (third input data 13) divided by the area used per employee for that type of construction (first input data 11). For example: 13 A 3,200 square metre commercial call centre with a utilisation of 11 square metres per employee, results in 290 equivalent full time positions. A 1,800 square metre retail site with a utilisation of 25 square metres per employee, results in 72 equivalent full time positions. 5 The computation of business employment, in one embodiment, is performed on a building by building or site by site basis. This is expected to reveal more accurate results than, for example, grouping buildings and/or sites into generalised groups and using an average measure of utilisation for the group. However, another embodiment may involve grouping buildings and/or sites in this manner, or using a 10 combination of calculations for building or site groups and calculations for individual buildings and/or sites. Non-residential construction employment In one embodiment, non-residential construction employment is calculated as the product of the area of each type of construction (third input data 13) and the cost 15 per unit area (second input data 12), multiplied by the employment multiplier for that type of construction (second input data 12). For example, for a commercial building designated for a call centre, the call centre may occupy 3000 square metres at a cost of $1500 per square metre, resulting in a cost of $4,500,000. The employment multiplier for non-residential 20 construction may be 5.2 per $1,000,000, which results in 23.4 full time person years of employment. The computation of non-residential construction employment, in one embodiment, is performed on a building by building or site by site basis. This may take into account the relative costs of construction of each building/site. However, in 25 other embodiments buildings and/or sites may be grouped together. In one embodiment, employment onsite and offsite are determined separately. If multipliers are available for each, then each are applied individually. Sometimes multipliers may be available for only onsite employment. In this case, a further multiplier may be used to determine the offsite employment due to 30 construction. For example, experiential data may indicate that offsite employment generated for a non-residential construction may be 0.65 that of the onsite employment and 1.2 times that of onsite employment for residential construction. If only a total multiplier was available, then this could be used as the sole measure. If it 14 was necessary to report separately for onsite and offsite employment, then again experiential data may indicate the appropriate split. The calculations of employment in one embodiment are made for each class of buildings referred to in the first input data 11. For example, separate employment 5 figures are calculated for retail, commercial, industrial, education, health, aged care, government and community construction. The separate calculation allows for example, outputs to distinguish between population driven employment and value adding employment. Residential construction employment 10 In one embodiment, residential construction employment is calculated as the product of the number of residential buildings (third input data 13) and the cost per building (second input data 12), multiplied by the employment multiplier for residential construction (second input data 12). Again, employment onsite and offsite may be calculated as described for non 15 residential construction. The calculation is may be performed per site, with each site containing a plurality of individual residential buildings (or a single strata building). However, again averaging may be used. Long term employment In one embodiment, long-term employment is separated into population 20 driven and value adding employment and also into onsite and offsite employment. To determine the onsite population driven employment, the sum of the home based business employment and the business employment resulting from construction in the classes of retail, education, health, aged care and community is determined. 25 To determine the onsite value adding employment, the sum of the commercial business employment, industrial employment and government employment is determined. To determine the offsite employment, the fourth input data 14 may be used to determine employment for the population. This may be split into population driven 30 and value adding employment. The difference between the population average and the onsite employment is used as a value for offsite employment.

15 Producer price index variations The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) maintains producer price indexes (PPI's) for residential construction. These PPI's may be utilised in the model to account for changing costs to construct properties. 5 The PPI's may be used to determine the residential construction employment. For example, the value per residential property when the construction development was approved may have been $150,000 and the PPI may indicate an increase of 10% since the date of approval. Therefore, the value of the residential construction that is multiplied with the employment multiplier is increased by a corresponding 10 10%. This assumes that a current value for the employment multiplier has also been used. If the employment multiplier from the time of approval is still being used, then the PPI may be ignored. Output data 15 Figure 5 shows one embodiment of the output data that may be produced. It includes both onsite and offsite employment for residential construction, non residential construction, short term and long term (including population driven and value adding) employment. The output data may be signals that cause the display of the information on a display screen, data stored in a storage device, and/or data 20 communicated to a remote device. Figure 6 shows an example of a human-readable report that may be produced by the computer 10. The report is shown in the form of a table, but other formats may be provided. The example shows a construction development scheduled to take 10 years, 25 which is 7 years into construction. The table has two main parts, a short term employment part or construction employment part, and a long term employment part. In the construction employment part, separate figures are output for onsite and offsite employment for residential and non-residential construction. Totals are provided for the current level of completion and at the expected full completion levels. 30 In addition, the average number of full time person years per year of the construction development is calculated and output. In the long term employment part, separate figures are output for onsite and offsite employment for population driven employment and value adding employment.

16 Total figures to date and expected totals to completion are also calculated and output. Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to integers having known equivalents, then those equivalents are hereby incorporated herein as 5 if individually set forth. Those skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that modifications and additions to the embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this 10 specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

Claims (29)

1. A computational modelling method for modelling employment relating to a construction development, the method comprising: receiving at an interface to a computational apparatus first input data, the first 5 input data including a measure of utilisation for employment of construction of a plurality of different types, including at least two types selected from the group: residential construction; retail construction; commercial construction; industrial construction; education construction; health construction; aged care construction; government construction; and community construction; 10 receiving at an interface to the computational apparatus second input data, the second input data including at least one multiplier for employment created by construction of construction types defined in the first input data; receiving at an interface to the computational apparatus third input data, the third input data including a measure of the difference in a measure of quantity of 15 construction of the types defined in the first input data that exist prior to and following the construction development; processing the first, second and third input data so as to apply said measure of utilisation and said at least one multiplier to the third input data to determine at least one numerical measure of employment as a result of construction of the 20 construction development and at least one numerical measure of employment resulting from utilisation of the completed construction; and outputting results of the processing of the determination of said numerical measures of employment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first input data includes a measure 25 of the utilisation for employment of at least residential construction and retail construction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first input data further includes a measure of the utilisation for employment of commercial construction and industrial construction. 30

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first data further includes a measure of the utilisation for employment of education construction, health construction, aged care construction, government construction and community construction. 18

5. The method of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the first input data includes a plurality of measures of the utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes of retail construction, and wherein the measure used in the step of processing in relation to a particular retail construction in the construction 5 development depends on the classification of that retail construction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of measures of the utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes retail construction include one measure for buildings for the retail of bulky products and another measure for other classifications of retail construction in the construction 10 development.

7. The method of claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the first input data includes a plurality of measures of the utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes of commercial construction and wherein the measure used in the step of processing in relation to a particular commercial building in the construction 15 development depends on the classification of that commercial building.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the classes of commercial building include office and head office.

9. The method of claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the classes of commercial building include call centre. 20

10. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first input data includes a plurality of measures of the utilisation for employment of a corresponding plurality of classes of industrial construction and wherein the measure used in the step of processing in relation to a particular industrial construction in the construction development depends on the classification of that industrial 25 construction.

11. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first input data includes a measure of utilisation for employment of residential construction and said measure includes a proportion of residential buildings in the area of the construction development that have home-based businesses and a measure of 30 average number of employees per home-based business. 11. The method of any one of the preceding claims, further including: receiving fourth input data, the fourth input data including a multiplier for total employment of the population in the location of the construction development and a change in population in the area due to the construction development; and 19 processing the fourth input data to determine a total numerical measure for employment and subtracting from said total numerical measure a total numerical measure of employment determined from the first, second and third input data to determine a numerical measure of off-site employment due to the construction 5 development; and outputting the numerical measure of off-site employment due to the construction development.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the process of receiving fourth input data includes receiving a first value for average occupancy per residential building, 10 receiving a second value for the number of buildings due to the construction development and multiplying the first and second values to determine said change in population in the area due to the construction development.

13. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second input data includes data defining a total value of the construction in the construction 15 development and at least one multiplier for the area that indicates the number of employees to construct the construction per unit value.

14. The method of claim 13, including determining the total value of residential construction in the construction development as the product of the number of residential buildings and the value per residential building in the construction 20 development.

15. The method of claim 13 or claim 14, including determining the total value of non-residential construction in the construction development as the product of the area occupied by the non-residential construction and the value per unit area of the non-residential construction in the construction development. 25

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the value per unit area used is different for different types of non-residential construction.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein different values per unit area are used for commercial and industrial construction in the construction development.

18. The method of claim 16 or claim 17, wherein a different value per unit 30 area is used for retail construction than for at least one type of non-residential building.

19. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second input data includes a first multiplier for employment created on-site of the 20 construction development and a second multiplier, different from the first multiplier, for employment created off-site of the construction development.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second'multiplier is determined as a proportion of the first multiplier. 5

21. The method of claim 19 or claim 20, wherein different multipliers are used for residential and non-residential construction in the construction development.

22. The method of any one of the preceding claims, including determining said at least one measure of employment as a result of construction and said at least one numerical measure of employment resulting from utilisation of the completed 10 construction at completion at and a time before completion.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the time before completion is a current time. 23. The method of claim 22 or claim 23, wherein the steps of processing and outputting include determining the additional employment as result of the 15 construction development between the time before completion and at completion.

24. The method of any one of the preceding claims, including determining said at least one measure of employment as a result of construction and said at least one numerical measure of employment resulting from utilisation of the completed construction at a plurality of times before completion. 20

25. The method of claim 24, wherein one of said plurality of times before completion includes at or before commencement of the construction development.

26. The method of claim 24 or claim 25, including accounting for changes in the cost of construction between the plurality of times before completion.

27. A computational apparatus when adapted to perform the method of 25 any one of claims 1 to 26.

28. The computational apparatus of claim 27, wherein said adaptation is the inclusion of instructions in memory that when executed perform the method.

29. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that when performed by a computational apparatus, cause the computational apparatus to 30 perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 26.