HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN EARN BY WORKING IN UK CONSTRUCTION
From TV shows about building your dream home to finding the perfect holiday house abroad, if there is one thing we love to watch on our screens, it’s property shows.
The schedules are packed with programmes offering renovation advice, interior decor ideas and DIY tips, reflecting the national obsession with owning your own pad. In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), in 2021, 62.5% of UK households owned the accommodation they lived in.
Home ownership has dropped in recent years in the UK, and a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that property is so much more expensive than it used to be. Across the UK, the average house price has risen from £1,884 in 1953 to more than £262,000 this year.
Within the UK, England is the most expensive country to buy a property, with houses costing an average of £305,370, but of course, London is many times more expensive, with the government reporting that the average cost of a house in the capital is £518,000.
5 construction jobs to apply for this week
- Electrician, BAE Systems, Portsmouth
- Homelift Builder, Stannah, Manchester
- Electrician, Serco Plc, Middlesbrough
- Plumber, Edinburgh Leisure, Dalkeith
- Construction Manager, Kier Group, Norwich
None of this has dulled Brits’ appetite for home improvements. Along with the rise of interior influencers who showcase their picture-perfect homes along with DIY tips, shopping inspo and how-tos, one study looked at Google Search Trend data from April 2022 to April 2023 and found that interest in home improvement projects rose by 59% over that year.
But rising construction costs are impacting homeowners, with prices rocketing for materials due to supply chain issues and inflation. Plus, labour costs are up, thanks to high demand.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has identified that the UK’s construction output will continue to rise by an average of 2.4% a year between now and 2028.
That’s a lot of extensions, and to cope with demand, more than 251,500 additional construction workers will be needed over the next five years, which will significantly boost construction employment to 2.75 million workers by 2028.
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Toolbelt generation
In tandem with these figures is the rising ‘Toolbelt Generation’ trend. Younger people, particularly those in the Gen Z bracket, are looking at the cost of uni education and saying no to an average post-university debt of £45,600.
Instead, learning a trade is looking pretty good to this age group. The Institute of Student Employers (ISE) has conducted research and has found that the average graduate salary in the UK is £33,229. Compared to the £48,675 a plumber can earn, according to the The Federation of Master Builders, and you can see why vocational training is so appealing.
The Federation also found that other skilled professionals were taking home earnings which dwarfed those of graduates by thousands of pounds. Site managers earn £51,266, electricians take home £47,265, and painters and decorators earn £34,587.
Roofers come out with earnings of £42,303, closely followed by bricklayers on £42,034. And carpenters and joiners earn £41,413, with plasterers taking home £41,045.
While the money is attractive once you’re qualified in the construction industry, a study by Fix Radio, a station for builders, found that 65% of Brits said they weren’t encouraged to pursue a career in the trades in the first place.
That might be changing if data from the CITB is anything to go by. In March, the body reported a 45% increase in the number of people seeking information about a career in construction.
It has seen almost one million visits to its construction careers website, Go Construct, so far this year, with a third of those users under the age of 18, with 33% of them female.
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So, when it comes to the Toolbelt Generation and the need for more workers in the construction sector, when beloved cartoon character Bob the Builder says, ‘Can we fix it?’ the resounding answer is of course, ‘Yes we can!’
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2024-09-12T07:19:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd