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Tue March 19 2024

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Skills crisis continues to deteriorate

9 Jan 15 Skills shortages in construction are continuing to get worse, a survey suggests.

Bricklayers are in increasingly short supply
Bricklayers are in increasingly short supply

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors UK construction market survey for the fouth quarter of 2014 found that construction workloads rose but labour and skills shortages reached a record high, particularly for bricklayers.

Labour shortages have become increasingly onerous in every area of the sector since the industry began to recover in mid-2013, according to the RICS quarterly surveys.

In Q4 2014, more than half of respondents (52% net balance) reported that workloads in the commercial sector had grown in Q4 2014, which is the fourth consecutive quarter where the reading for workloads has been above 50%. Private housing followed at a net balance of 45% and industrial at 40%, while overall UK construction workloads reached a 39% positive net balance.

However, 60% of respondents reported that either material shortages, skill shortages or financial constraints were impeding further sector growth, while the proportion of respondents reporting labour shortages across all of the main trades climbed to 48% - described by RICS as “an all-time high”.

Despite these factors and anecdotal evidence that the forthcoming election in May is creating industry uncertainty, confidence remains firm with the vast majority of respondents expecting workloads to increase and most expecting employment to increase. Chartered surveyors anticipate growth in construction workloads of 3.4% in 2015 with jobs in the sector expected to rise by a further 3%.

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MPU
MPU

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