The construction industry has a high proportion of self-employed workers
Share of self-employed workers by industry in the UK as of Q1 2024 (%)
Over one third of construction workers are self-employed
The construction sector has relatively high levels of self- employment. As of the beginning of 2024, 37% of those working within the construction industry were self-employed, which equated to 773,000 people. As a share of all employment in a sector, construction has the third highest rate of self-employment after agriculture and retail/wholesale and is well above the average of 15% for the whole economy. Within construction, women are more likely than men to work as employees and less likely to be self-employed; in the first quarter of 2024, approximately 45% of male construction workers were self- employed whilst only 4% of women were.
Agriculture
59
Retail and wholesale
52
Construction
37
Hospitality
22
Transport
Self-employment can present challenges for addressing skills gap
17
Finance and business services
14
High rates of self-employment can hinder efforts to increase skills in the industry and create pathways for young workers to enter the sector. The Construction Leadership Council’s Industry Skills Plan advocates for increasing direct employment in the construction sector to modernise and enhance skills. It states that direct employment can act as ‘an enabler of apprenticeships, digital upskilling, and competence.’ 5 However, this can be more difficult for the many SMEs in construction who may need to draw on a more flexible set of skills throughout a project and thus highly utilise a variety of self- employed tradespeople.
Public and private administrative and Support…
9
Education
7
Health
6
Manufacturing
6
0
20
40
60
80
Source: Capital Economics and the Office for National Statistics
5 Construction Leadership Council, IndustrySkills Plan for the UK Construction Sector 2021 – 2025 (Construction Leadership Council: London), 2019
18
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker