Record Construction Job Vacancies

THE LATEST DATA published by the Office for National Statistics shows that there were 43,000 construction job vacancies between July and September. This is by far the highest it’s ever been, and the first time it’s ever risen to over 40,000.

The three-month vacancy figure continues the trend first seen in the significant increase of 7,000 vacancies from June to August – itself a record for the industry at that time.

Dominick Sandford, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “These large increases in vacancies suggest that the industry is confident about the sector’s future, and is investing in manpower to tackle upcoming projects. However, with the number of jobs available continuing to increase, it appears that some companies are struggling to find staff to hire.

“Unfortunately, the sector also saw unemployment numbers rise by 9,000 to 62,000, the highest figure since December to February (70,000) earlier this year.

“This corresponds with a large increase in redundancies over the same timeframe, rising from 5,000 between May-July, to 9,000. This is the first time that redundancies have risen since February-April this year.

“This new data shows that there is still plenty of movement in the industry, and that will likely continue, with vacancies and redundancies both rising.

“Whilst unemployment remains high in construction, the sizable increase in new jobs provides hope for the future that this figure will fall once again, as long as companies are able to attract new staff.”

>> Read more about construction job vacancies in the news