Around half of FMB members want the Government to attract more skilled labour from abroad to help address the chronic skills gap in construction, according to its latest State of Trade survey.
The organisation is calling on the government to consider all options to ‘get Britain building’ in the light of reports that the country will need 53,000 additional workers a year to meet construction demand.
Chief executive Brian Berry said: “The growing skills gap in the construction sector is a ticking time bomb that the Government can’t afford to ignore. Whether that’s looking again at targeted immigration measures or using the Spring Budget to bring forward a comprehensive skills strategy to roadmap how we fill the gaps and train at scale, it’s time to act.”
In the survey of FMB members, 48% said they favoured targeted immigration rules, supported by investment in UK-based training opportunities, to tackle the skills crisis while 21% opposed changing the rules.
The survey also has bad news for the general health of the sector, with a fall in workload and employment, and a significant drop in enquiries for future work.
Berry concluded: “This quarter’s FMB State of Trade data shows some potentially worrying signs for every part of the construction sector with workloads and enquiries down significantly. Ambitious plans are needed to get small, local builders motoring. A first step is the need to unblock the planning system to get more homes built. There is also an urgent need to invest in greening our homes, with a long-term plan towards retrofitting the existing housing stock. This move would give construction businesses the certainty they need to invest.”
