The Labour Market
As noted in the Introductory Notes, the FMB survey question on the state of the labour market in construction has been changed to test to what extent firms are experiencing difficulty in recruiting direct employees and in hiring sub-contractors.
Overall, the proportion of respondents reporting difficulty in obtaining skilled operatives to work in either capacity was exactly 50%, very nearly the same figure - after making allowance for the effects of weighting - as those recorded in the third and fourth quarters of last year and, before that, in the third and fourth quarters of 1997, but higher than in the corresponding period a year ago.
Numbers of firms reporting difficulties were almost equal for direct employees and sub-contractors. However, with relatively more medium-sized firms reporting difficulty in recruiting direct employees, and relatively more small businesses finding it difficult to hire sub-contractors, the weighted proportions were 37% for direct employees and only 28% for sub-contractors.
As has been the case for well over a year, carpenters and joiners are the trade in respect of which firms are experiencing relatively the greatest recruitment difficulty, certainly when looking for direct employees, though for availability of sub-contractors they are edged out by plumbers and heating and ventilating engineers. The situation with bricklayers appears to have eased, as also has that in respect of plasterers.
Table 9 - % Reporting Difficulty in Obtaining Skilled Labour, Last Quarter
| |
All trades |
Bricklayers |
Carpenters
& Joiners |
Plasterers |
Plumbers&
H&V Engineers |
| |
Direct |
Sub |
Direct |
Sub |
Direct |
Sub |
Direct |
Sub |
Direct |
Sub |
Northern |
28 |
9 |
8 |
2 |
9 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
18 |
0 |
North West |
37 |
18 |
27 |
13 |
35 |
16 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
6 |
Yorkshire/Trent |
18 |
14 |
10 |
12 |
17 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
0 |
7 |
Midlands |
50 |
33 |
19 |
12 |
33 |
11 |
24 |
15 |
20 |
30 |
Eastern |
43 |
28 |
20 |
12 |
30 |
16 |
7 |
13 |
18 |
17 |
London |
41 |
43 |
18 |
18 |
23 |
20 |
12 |
15 |
13 |
34 |
Southern |
35 |
46 |
0 |
15 |
21 |
36 |
0 |
16 |
2 |
18 |
South West |
45 |
32 |
29 |
17 |
34 |
16 |
16 |
4 |
10 |
12 |
South Wales |
27 |
16 |
25 |
14 |
20 |
2 |
27 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| National |
37 |
28 |
17 |
13 |
26 |
15 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
16 |
No other trades were causing difficulties, for recruitment of direct employees or hiring sub-contractors, for more than 5% of respondents nationally. However, double-digit percentages were recorded for electrical engineers in London and Eastern Counties, and in the Midlands which shows the highest percentage of any region in respect of recruitment of direct employees, despite its having a clear negative balance for workload. London and Southern Counties show the highest percentages for difficulty in hiring sub-contractors.
Precise comparisons are impossible, because of weighting, but the labour supply situation in the Midlands appears to have tightened sharply in the first quarter of 1999, whilst across the South of the country conditions seem to have eased slightly.
First posted: 1 April 1999. Last modified: 27 July 1999.
