Career Focus - Construction
Check out the pay, prospects, players and talking points of careers in Construction 2007-8.
THE PAY
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- Above-inflation pay rises
...thanks to a tight labour market for both management and construction workers. Running at an average of 3.5%-4.5% year-on-year, pay settlements are generally higher than in other sectors of the economy.
- Three-year pay deal
We’re one year into the latest Construction Industry Joint Council pay agreement, which saw a 14.5% average increase in minimum basic craft rates from £9/hr to £10.30/hr. But if you’re a craft professional, and you’re not yet earning £10.30/hr, don’t forget it’s a three-year deal, so the rate only has to get there by the end of year three. The actual yearly pay increases agreed between the TGWU, UCATT, the GMB and the Construction Confederation were 3.5% in 2006, 4.35% in 2007 and 6% in 2008. By the way, starting rates for apprentices are now £151.37 per week.
- Northern Ireland construction industry goes one better
Building and civil engineering workers in NI have just won a 17% pay increase phased over the next three years. But hold onto that green-eyed god just a moment – they’re starting from a lower base, and will take the average advanced craft hourly rate from £9.71 to £10.91 by August 2009.
THE PROSPECTS
- Did someone say ‘Olympics’?
Construction workers could be striking, if not winning, gold at the 2012 Olympics. Research by the sector skills councils shows the games needs 13,000 construction workers plus 1,500 electricians and plumbers a year between now and 2012, which poses something of a Herculean task for the Olympian construction employers – they’ll have to compete for construction talent with the Heathrow terminal five employers as well as King’s Cross and Crossrail projects, for instance. According to Construction Skills, the immediate demand is for ground workers, bricklayers, carpenters, joiners and painter and decorators.
- Desperately seeking ‘sustainability’ experts
Still with the Olympics, the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 is now looking for officials with expertise in eco-friendly development for the Olympics project. But the ‘s’ word is by no means confined to the Olympics. The entire industry worldwide is now in hot pursuit of strategies to help promote sustainable construction. One company, for instance, has just received a 5% reduction in its insurance premiums by using sustainable materials. The future is bright for ‘green’ construction experts.
- Apprenticeships back on the agenda?
The construction sector skills council has just announced a record £140m in grants for skills and training development. Hardly surprising, considering the industry reckons it needs a further 87,600 new entrants per year until 2011. Let’s hope this generosity extends to apprenticeships for anyone trying to get into the industry - at least 12,000 recruits were turned away from the construction industry in 2006 due to a reported lack of vacancies for apprentices being offered by employers.
THE TALKING POINTS
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THE PLAYERS
- Sector skills shortages
More than three-quarters (77%) of construction and building firms say they had problems hiring in 2006 and, considering 72% of them expect to demand to rise, the problem looks set to get worse. The biggest shortages? At management and craft/trade levels.
- No place for women?
The percentage of women in the construction industry remains stubbornly stuck at just under 10%, with most (51%) working in admin or secretarial roles. But some changes are under way, as employers recognise that one of the likely solutions to the skills shortage will be to widen the net. Witness Bovis Lend Lease’s action on maternity benefits, or the move by smaller contractors such as Durkan Construction and Derwent Build to seek female apprenticeships, or the Simons Group’s ambitious aim to have a 50% female workforce in ten years’ time….
- Bogus self-employed stealing jobs for the rest?
Construction workers’ union UCATT estimates that up to 40% of the 2.2 million building workers employed in the UK are operating under a false self-employment regime. The fact that these (migrant) workers hold a CIS4 card, requiring them to pay reduced tax and NI contributions, is, critics claim, making them more ‘attractive’ to a certain kind of cost-conscious employer, who uses this labour instead of running apprenticeships or providing training.