The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has released a statement explaining the opportunity that a career in construction can bring, and how to break the stigma around vocational training.
Jeremy Gray, head of policy at the FMB, said: “As a profession, construction is more than people think. With a wide range of jobs from bricklayers, site managers, planners and surveyors – it can be quite a lucrative and rewarding career.
“If more young people joined the industry, it would not only address our skills shortage and provide succession planning with an aging workforce, but also offers great local employment opportunities for school leavers.
“Labour’s housing target to deliver 1.5m homes over the next five years opens a door of plentiful opportunity for our sector. But it will require a huge uplift in the number of builders. We need to get 50,000 workers into the industry just to meet demand, but with big ambitions the government and industry will have find many more.
“Recruitment can be challenging, which is why SMEs need support to onboard fresh staff. This is especially true when it comes to apprentices as builders need to balance paperwork with their own workloads. With the creation of Skills England, hopefully this signals the Government’s intention to boost vocational career paths, but they will need to work alongside existing bodies, like the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to help builders hire new starters.
“With the Labour government’s ambitious target to build 370,000 homes a year, a figure not reached for 50 years, we should see this as a fantastic opportunity for SMEs to grow.
“Construction is a positive, lucrative and entrepreneurial career path. Apprentices pass the line into work debt free compared to students. Many construction roles, such as a skilled bricklayer will pay more than many graduate jobs. If we make training more accessible and help provide the opportunities for young people, this will help to achieve what is an ambitious target.”