UK Construction industry – good news & bad news!
The Construction industry is in a state of uncertainty at the moment.
Do you want the good news or the bad news?
Do you ever get the feeling the UK isn’t maximising it’s chances of economic success..? The construction industry has experienced continued growth over the last 2 years and if it continues as predicted it will virtually reach the dizzy levels of 2008. ‘ Total construction employment in the UK is projected to reach 2.74m by 2019, still slightly below the 2008 peak of 2.86m.’(1)
In 2015 Construction News, reported it was expected to ‘need an additional 223,450 jobs over the next 5 years – to handle expected output growth to 2019’ (2).
That was great news , and still could be….
However, the never-ending Brexit uncertainty packs a potential sting in the tale.
The (potential) Bad News
This week, Construction News reported that, a ‘Hard Brexit could cause an ‘exodus of 175,000 construction workers’.
I like to stay on the positive side of things, so let’s just hope we manage to keep our very much needed EU workers in the UK – to help us continue riding this wave of growth.
We do always have the less positive, or should I stay realisitic view points below:
“Lord Stunnell, the man leading a review into the impact leaving the EU will have on construction, told Construction News in February that construction output could shrink by 9 per cent following a hard Brexit.
“The ongoing uncertainty over the rights of EU citizens to remain in the UK post-Brexit is already resulting in workers voting with their feet and leaving the UK.
“This will exacerbate the deepening construction skills crisis, resulting in projects being delayed or cancelled, which will severely damage the health of the industry.” (3)”
The Good News: ‘Key findings from the 2015 report:’
- ‘It will need to recruit an average of 44,690 people each year between now and 2019 to meet demand and deliver average annual output growth of 2.9 per cent, according to the latest Construction Skills Network report from Experian and the CITB.’
- Employment growth will be strongest for professional occupations, including surveyors and architects, with a 2.3 per cent increase annually to 2019.
- However, the annual recruitment requirement for these occupations is relatively low, at 440 and 540 respectively.
- Mr Radley added that growth was no longer dependent on housing, but that infrastructure, retail and leisure were also contributing increased construction employment. (4)
Sources:
(1), (2), (3), (4) – http://www.constructionnews.co.uk
Image – http://www.careersinconstruction.com
