23 JAN 2023 BY JONATHAN KNOTT

The construction industry needs to increase recruitment by 25 per cent over the next five years to meet expected demand, according to new research.

A report from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) says the industry needs to recruit 224,900 extra workers by 2027 to fulfil expected construction aspirations.

This equates to 44,980 people joining the industry a year.

The figure is lower than a year ago, when the CITB last analysed the demand, due to the expected fall in workloads due to worsening economic conditions. Last year it estimated 53,200 people a year needed to be recruited.

CITB predicts a construction output growth rate of 1.5 per cent a year between 2023 and 2027, compared with the 3.2 per cent it estimated for 2022-2026.

The report says a recession should be expected in 2023, with a return to growth in the second half of 2024 through to 2027.

It adds: “We are expecting the construction workforce to dip slightly in 2023 as output reduces with the recession, before picking back up to reach 2.67 million by 2027… This equates to the industry needing to increase recruitment by around 25 per cent to get the 224,900 extra workers over the next five years that would be needed to meet projected demand, given current technological and regulatory standards.”

CITB head of industry analysis and forecasting Marcus Bennett told Construction News the figure represented “the gap between what we have the capacity to build and what the data says the UK wants to build”.

The report calculates estimated recruitment needs for different occupations, on top of an expected annual workforce churn of 8 per cent from people leaving and entering the workforce.

Bennett said that getting enough skilled, site-based workers was a “worrying trend that the industry is struggling with”, because experienced workers were leaving at a greater rate than those coming in.

He pointed out that a large number of people appear to have recently left the workforce, for reasons which may include long-term sickness and lifestyle choices.

“This is across all sectors, but it’s particularly an issue for construction,” said Bennett, suggesting that improving productivity and attracting a more diverse workforce could help address the problem.

“The challenge for the industry is not just that it needs to recruit people. It also needs to think about how it makes itself a place that everyone wants to work,” he said.

Issues hitting the workforce in recent years include an increase in early retirements, falling apprenticeship starts and new post-Brexit immigration rules.

In November, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association said that the industry’s skills shortage has reached “alarming proportions”, after a survey it carried out revealed that three-quarters of contractors had issues recruiting all the staff they needed.

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