Construction companies are reporting a seven year high in plans to recruit new staff in the first part of 2015.


The surveyed carried out by Manpower suggests the volume of work in the construction pipeline has created higher prospects for employment since before the start of the recession.


Key to this rise is the skills shortage in the UK, which has seen over-the-odds being paid to skilled workers from other parts of the EU, with reports of bricklayers from Portugal working in London earning in excess of £1000 a week after tax.


“There is a severe shortage of skilled tradespeople in Britain – bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, mechanical engineers, HGV drivers,” said James Hick of recruiters Manpower.


The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2015 covered firms across all industries with construction ranking as one of the fastest growing industry for employment opportunities.


The last three months has seen a rise of 9% of those companies seeking to hire when compared to those not looking to hire employees a year on year growth of 16% which is the strongest growth in the labour market since the last quarter of 2007.


Consultancy AECOM demonstrates that one in three contractors are turning down work in London due to the growing skills shortages and the costs of employing new staff should staff members leave and need to be replaced during longer term projects.


Strains are being seen in concrete and brickwork specialists and a rapid increase in the demand for joinery and dry lining specialists could see these becoming the next trades to suffer from the same labour-cost hikes.


We are seeing similar demands being made in the types of construction supplies our customers are requesting, with the upsurge roughly following the trends of trades in which there are apparent skills shortages.

 

Steve Turner, of the Home Builders Federation, said the huge increase in house-building activity had started after the launch of the government's Help to Buy scheme last April.

 

He said: "The industry has had to recovery a lot of its workers very quickly, so as a result there have been pinch points.

 

"There's a lot going on in terms of taking on apprentices and recruitment... but clearly in the short term there is a pressure on skills - and bricklaying is not the only one.

 

"Across the board there is a drive in the industry to recruit people of all trades."

 

Steven Murphy, general secretary of construction union Ucatt, said there has been a lack on investment in the future of the industry and we're now living with the results: "The industry goes to great lengths not to employ workers directly and in that environment it is unsurprising that companies are not prepared to invest in apprentices, the workers of the future,"