Optimal labor scheduling for construction projects in the middle east

Abstract

In countries where the construction workers are hired on a temporary basis, the decision maker has long been confronted with the dilemma of whether to hire-fire workers in order to meet the fluctuating demand or to keep the manpower at a certain level and let the changing demand be met by overtime work. An integer programming model is presented in this paper to derive an optimal labor schedule for construction projects in the Middle East. The sign of the deviation between the overtime cost and the wage cost was found to be the key criterion in selecting the proper manpower policy.