In construction projects, there are three basic planning elements: time, cost, and quality. These concepts are in a close relationship with each other. Labour productivity is also a key concept of construction planning efforts and has a direct interrelationship with the triple constraint mentioned above. The present study reports an investigation of construction labour productivity described as numerical values, i.e. man-day values. First, a general knowledge was given concerning the concept "labour productivity". Here, the system which is the source of labor productivity rates in Turkey was also introduced and its criticism was carried out. Toward this aim, labour productivity rates of the most fundamental two work items of any construction project (formwork-erecting and reinforcement-fixing) were obtained by means of a questionnaire survey applied to planning engineers, site/project managers, and chief executive officers of about 82 general contractors in the construction industry in Turkey. The results were evaluated by one sample t-test, and hence, today's situation of the construction industry in Turkey regarding labor productivity was displayed by a statistical analysis that compares man-day values in theory and in practice. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.