Figures released by the Office for National Statistics have shown an increase of 4% in the average construction workers’ pay packet, reaching an average weekly earning in September of £722, with construction vacancies continuing to rise.

Unfortunately, construction worker salaries are not managing to keep up with inflation but they are still the third-highest of all the economic sectors, only trailing behind health and social care and manufacturing. Manufacturing along with construction are two sectors we specialise in at Axiom and we are working with our clients to help get the best candidates within their salary expectations.

Job vacancies in construction continue to rise, with a further increase in September to 49,000 vacancies across the UK.

There is considerable pressure on specialist and smaller construction firms who have salary increases and inflationary increases on materials, especially on those who are contractually tied to fixed price contracts.

Although there are pressing issues in the construction industry, the ONS data for Q3 shows order books are up by 6.4% some of this growth is still being driven by companies refurbishing offices as workers return in larger numbers.

But these growths can not be sustained if we can’t get qualified and experienced tradespeople back to work. Long-term health issues, early retirement, still some impact from Brexit and some labour returning to their home countries and also a disconnect between further education and the construction industry are keeping pressure on recruitment. The CITB reported recently that only 1/3 of young people coming into FE to study construction actually make it into the workforce.

The construction industry employs (in Q2) 2.2million, this is on the increase again from its lowest numbers in Q4 2020 when it fell to 2.08m.

If you need to work with a highly skilled recruiter in the construction industry come and talk to Liam, our lead construction recruitment consultant.