The skills shortage crisis will put construction industry in disarray
The construction sector is hiring record number of people, but some fear that the skills shortage in the industry may put sector in dire straits.
Employment in the construction sector has grown at its fastest rate since the PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) survey began in 1997. At the same time the average wage for the sector is also rising at a rapid rate.
However, many, including Will Davies, founder and managing director of leading property maintenance firm, aspect.co.uk, fears that the construction industry will suffer unless they start training young people and ease the skills shortage crisis.
Will said: “Customer confidence to spend money and business confidence to invest are the keys to economic growth.
“In the construction sector it is encouraging that certain firms can employ more people and train more youngsters in the future.
“But we must be aware that growth in the construction sector will falter unless we train more young tradesmen.
Will, who is a long-term campaigner for a return to a traditional system of apprenticeship training, continued: “All of the building trades have been hit by the recession and an almost non-existent housing market for the past six or seven years. If we don’t start training youngsters immediately our economic growth will be dependent upon importing skilled labour from Eastern Europe.
“There are still too many young unemployed in this country and they are becoming totally demoralised by the job market. Providing them with high quality training is the key to preparing them for a lifetime of work and the construction sector has a large part to play. If we don’t deal with the problem we will be paying for our failure for decades to come.”
