A new study released on Friday predicted Australia would lose more than 80,000 jobs in the construction sector during the next three years. However, the federal government was always aware the sector would be hit hard by the global financial crisis, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. Apprentice numbers would fall by 10 percent as the sector experienced the most severe impact in 2009-10 and 2010-11, followed by some consolidation in 2011-12, the Access Economics study commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said. 'We always knew that construction was going to bear a lot of weight of the global economic downturn and the global financial crisis,' Gillard told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio. That was why the government had acted 'early and decisively' to provide economic stimulus, especially for infrastructure. The government was keen to see the banks lend to the construction sector. 'We are certainly in frequent dialogue with the banks and doing what we can to make sure that credit still flows to worthy projects,' Gillard said when asked whether the government should be stepping up pressure on the banks to lend more. 