National Apprenticeship Week: The Construction Sector Faces a Record Number of Vacancies

With a huge proportion of overseas workers moving back to the EU following tighter Brexit constraints and younger generations pursuing other career choices, the Construction Skills Network predicts that the industry will require 216,800 new workers by 2025 to meet demand. The depleting workforce has had a nationwide impact, with 19% of Brits saying there have been fewer tradespeople to choose from for their home improvements Fix Radio found. Constituted by an ageing workforce, Fix Radio reinforces the importance of acquiring new talent to tackle the growing skills deficit gap in the construction sector.

New data revealed by Screwfix further reinforces the challenges that recruitment is presenting across all sectors in the trade. 9 in 10 tradespeople agreed that apprentices are vital to the future of the industry, but only 18% currently hire one, and 31% said they would never hire one, highlighting a huge shortage of future tradespeople having the chance to learn a trade. Not being able to afford extra costs such as insurance and pensions (19%), and not having enough support from grants (13%) are cited as the key barriers tradespeople face when trying to get an apprentice on their payroll. Other reasons included not having time to train an apprentice, and not knowing how to even go about recruiting one.

Clive Holland, host of The Clive Holland Show on Fix Radio, shares his thoughts on how the skills deficit has affected the construction sector:

“The UK construction sector is facing a huge skills deficit – experienced tradespeople left the sector in droves during the pandemic and efforts to recruit young people into the trades are failing.

“According to government figures the number young people entering apprenticeships has fallen by nearly 10% in the last year and the Construction Products Association estimated that over 220,000 workers have left the industry since the summer of 2019. The shortage of skills will make the building more expensive – last year saw 6% wage inflation!

“The construction industry is failing to address this growing problem. There needs to be a long-term strategy where construction firms and trade bodies work closely with the education sector and government agencies to achieve shared goals.”