Subcontractor wages fall during June
11:33 23 Jul 2009
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Subcontractor wages continued to fall during June, particularly in southern England, in the latest data supplied by Hudson Contract.
On average, wages in the South East and South West region fell by 5.4% and 4.2% respectively compared to three months ago.
In the North East, North West and Midlands, wages rose but by less than 1%.
"Pay for labour-only bricklayers seems to be typical of the doldrums’ effect brought about by recessionary pressures," said David Jackson, managing director for Hudson Contract. "Average pay is established at between £615 for the N.E. and just £402 in the Midlands for the trade affected most by the dramatic reduction in operatives working for the house-building sector (reported nationally as shedding 50% of it’s labour between April ’08 to April ’09)."
Self-employed joiners have seen a reduction of between 3.6% and 15.6% in the same three month analysis.
"Unusually, all five of the regions covered are all showing joiners having reduced income," commented Jackson. "This is consistent with those operatives working for general builders."
In contrast, those working in the M & E sector have showed increases in all five regions of between a quarter of a percent to 25%. Shopfitters enjoyed even better rises, and were up 42.5% in the Midlands.
The biggest drop is seen in the South West where plasterers contracted saw a drop of £330 in their earnings, yet they still averaged an acceptable £748 for the week’s work.
The highest average earnings were in the South East at £757 per man per week, compared with £553 and £570 in the North West and North East respectively.