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Government warned about construction skills shortage

Published on 18th November 2015

Salaries for construction jobs are rising thanks to the skills shortage.
The Government has been warned that any efforts to solve the housing crisis will fail unless steps are taken to tackle the construction sector’s skills shortage.

Bernard Brown, Partner at KPMG, made the comments in response to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Report On Jobs, which showed that the number of both permanent and temporary construction jobs available continues to grow.

However, an industry wide skills shortage means that demand for experienced workers far outstrips supply, which Mr Brown described as a “worrying development” for the sector.

“It is clear the industry is suffering from a chronic skills shortage along its entire supply chain, with recruiters struggling to meet demand for roles ranging from architects to construction workers,” he said.

“With Britain in the grips of a housing crisis, this shortage of skilled workers could throw a serious spanner in the works, slowing projects in the pipeline and pushing up overall build costs as developers bid high to secure the labour they need.”

Mr Brown added that it was time for the Government to act to improve skills and help the housebuilding sector to increase its capacity.

“Businesses will want to see this addressed in the Autumn Statement, with measures to boost apprenticeships and encourage the return of small and medium-sized builders, many of whom left the industry in the midst of the recession,” he said.

“By addressing this crucial capacity issue and rebalancing the industry away from the bigger developers, Britain can build the skills base it needs.”

The pressure to find skilled workers for projects is likely to increase in the short term, as the latest Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index for the construction industry revealed that activity levels are rising in the housebuilding, commercial property and civil engineering segments.

Kalcrest Site Services helps construction contractors to deal with the skills shortage by supplying experienced, reference-checked trades, engineers, site managers and labourers for projects on a short or long-term basis.

Call us on 01709 720348 or contact us via info@kalcrest.co.uk for more information about our recruitment services.

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