Current skills shortages have eased since 2022 but remain elevated
Share of respondents reporting skill shortages by occupation in the UK (%)
Skills shortages in skilled occupations above pre-2020 level
The loss of construction workers aged under 50 during the pandemic and the swift recovery in construction output in 2021 led to a rapid rise in worker shortages. Results from a survey conducted by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicate a sharp rise in the share of businesses reporting skills shortages across construction occupations, from 28.7% in Q1 2021 to a peak of 54.7% by Q3 2021. Although these reported shortages have eased somewhat since the middle of 2022, with the latest figure for Q2 2024 at 33.8%, it remains broadly in line with the pre-pandemic level. The same trend can be seen when looking at specific occupations. Widespread shortages rapidly rose across the key construction occupations of plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers and electricians in 2021. These shortages persisted throughout 2022 and then eased to broadly pre-pandemic levels by mid-2024.
Plumbers
Bricklayers
Carpenters
Plasterers
Electricians
Construction average
100
50
0
2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022
Construction vacancies per 100 employee jobs in the UK
4
Construction vacancies remain at historically high levels
The reported skills shortages fed into a surge in vacancies in the construction industry, as construction employers struggled to find staff. Although vacancies have fallen from their peak of 3.2 per hundred employee jobs in the first quarter of 2022, the number of vacancies in May 2024 was higher than at any time in the 20 years preceding the pandemic.
3
2
1
There has been an uptick in vacancies since a recent low of 2.2 in September 2023 to 2.4 in May 2024.
0
2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022
Sources Capital Economics, Refinitiv and Office for National Statistics
16
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