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Skills shortage 'hitting construction industry’s hiring plans'

Published on 7th August 2015

Construction and engineering workers are the most in-demand in the UK, but the ongoing skills shortage means employers are having difficulty finding the right staff, a new study has found.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) / KPMG Report On Jobs for July revealed that the number of both permanent and temporary jobs being filled across the economy continued to grow.

Construction workers were the most sought after for temporary and contract roles, and the second most sought after for permanent jobs (behind engineers) over the month.

However, while the demand for construction workers was strong, the availability of the right skills for both permanent and temporary jobs had fallen.

Bernard Brown, Partner at KPMG, warned that the skills shortage was having a detrimental effect on the growth plans of businesses and could also damage the UK’s economic performance.

“The construction industry in particular is struggling to keep pace with demand, with businesses heavily recruiting both permanent and temporary workers,” he said.

“The risk is that a shortage of skilled labour in this sector could impede Britain’s major building projects and put the brakes on the country’s real estate market.

“The likelihood is we will see no immediate improvement to this situation. We are already seeing hints of a slowdown, with the loss of growth momentum in house building and civil engineering in July.”

Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the REC, echoed the concerns about the “tightening” labour market.

“The shortage of construction workers is a particular concern,” said Mr Green. “If construction companies don’t have the people they need, both infrastructure projects and house building will be constrained, and this will have an impact on wider economic growth.”

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) recently gave a similar warning, after its State of Trade Survey found that while its members’ workloads were rising, they were struggling to find the right skilled workers to cope with the additional demand.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “There can be no doubt that the building industry is booming but the skills shortage continues to loom large over our industry. Almost half of construction SMEs are struggling to recruit adequate numbers of bricklayers, with others finding it increasingly hard to hire carpenters and joiners, site managers and supervisors.”

Kalcrest Site Services helps clients to cope with the skills shortage by supplying experienced, reference-checked construction workers for temporary roles and compiling shortlists of qualified staff for permanent jobs.

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

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