Construction workers fall short of demand

26/03/2008

The UK does not have enough construction workers, such as builders and plumbers, to keep up with all the work that needs to be done, an industry union has said.

A spokesman for the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ucatt) highlighted that the number of apprenticeships falls short of the required number of recruits.

"We need over 80,000 new recruits every year and last year there were just 7,500 apprenticeships. We are doing a lot of work to increase the numbers of apprenticeships; we see this as very important," he said.

He continued that Ucatt's "key priority" is to increase the number of workers entering the construction industry and pointed out that the number of female apprentices has increased recently.

The union is also encouraging firms to reinstate work-based apprenticeships and to offer their workers the chance to study to NVQ level for free.

Targets for 400,000 apprenticeships in trades such as building and plumbing by 2020 have been set by the government, according to cnplus.co.uk.