The Labour Market - 3rd Quarter 2001 The same observation may be made as last time that, given the strength of its findings for workload and employment, it is inconceivable that the survey should find any easing of the labour market situation for building workers. Once again, however, there is relatively little change in the overall proportion indicating difficulty obtaining supplies of skilled labour, to work either as direct employees or as sub-contractors, which is 75% this time against 71% in each of the first two FMB surveys in 2001.
Table 9 - % Reporting Difficulty in Obtaining Skilled Labour, Last Quarter (Previous Quarter's % in Parentheses)   All trades Bricklayers Carpenters Joiners Plasterers Plumbers H&V Engineers   Direct Sub Direct Sub Direct Sub Direct Sub Direct Sub North 43 (65) 31 (29) 8 (4) 10 (4) 10 (21) 31 (25) 10 (25) 9 (8) 10 (19) 6 (7) Yorks & Humber 34 (44) 41 (45) 11 (27) 26 (14) 25 (24) 8 (15) 0 (3) 13 (9) 14 (9) 16 (20) East Midlands 24 (52) 9 (47) 9 (24) 2 (20) 9 (21) 6 (24) 4 (18) 6 (15) 4 (24) 2 (15) East Anglia 58 (83) 54 (72) 29 (60) 17 (49) 21 (46) 23 (33) 36 (11) 29 (28) 8 (18) 4 (16) London 79 (55) 55 (57) 56 (28) 24 (27) 38 (42) 26 (35) 13 (4) 14 (27) 36 (16) 34 (24) South East 53 (56) 63 (48) 24 (30) 36 (28) 32 (34) 26 (31) 12 (10) 41 (27) 10 (11) 44 (26) South West 73 (69) 66 (49) 49 (34) 25 (18) 53 (51) 35 (16) 11 (14) 23 (2) 4 (10) 13 (15) West Midlands 69 (62) 41 (40) 46 (35) 30 (16) 26 (38) 12 (26) 24 (6) 21 (13) 29 (21) 12 (18) North West 49 (27) 44 (39) 26 (17) 14 (29) 21 (19) 12 (20) 32 (0) 14 (21) 5 (15) 9 (25) Wales 44 (28) 57 (35) 0 (4) 20 (20) 38 (16) 28 (26) 23 (4) 38 (24) 0 (16) 30 (31) Scotland 91 (22) 14 (0) 91 (6) 0 (0) 82 (17) 9 (0) 55 (0) 5 (0) 27 (17) 14 (0) N Ireland 52 (65) 52 (94) 26 (65) 52 (94) 9 (0) 35 (53) 35 (12) 52 (88) 9 (0) 0 (53) England & Wales 57 (56) 50 (48) 31 (32) 25 (26) 30 (36) 23 (27) 17 (9) 23 (18) 15 (16) 20 (21) UK 58 (55) 50 (48) 32 (32) 25 (26) 30 (35) 23 (26) 18 (8) 24 (18) 15 (16) 20 (21)
Looking at the two bottom lines of Table 9, giving the 'national' results, it may be seen that there are also modest increases in the proportions specifying difficulty in recruiting skilled workers as employees, now up to 58% for the UK as a whole, and in hiring sub-contractors, up to 50%. Where the individual trades are concerned, however, most of the figures shown here are slightly lower than last time, the exceptions being those for plasterers. The four trades specified in the Table are those for which the 'national' proportions reporting recruitment difficulty are regularly over 10%. On this occasion there is a fifth trade for which one of the figures for the country as a whole is above that level, with 12% indicating difficulty obtaining roofers to work as sub-contractors. Meanwhile 7% report difficulty in recruiting roofers as direct employees. These are the highest figures recorded for this trade. There are also some regions where other trades show figures above the 10% level, principally electricians in the South East and Yorkshire & Humberside, and painters in East Anglia, parts of the South East, the South West and West Midlands. There are some considerable variations by region in the present recruitment situation, with as high a proportion as 90% of firms working principally in London indicating difficulty in obtaining skilled labour to work either as direct employees or as sub-contractors, whilst the corresponding figures for the South East, South West and West Midlands are all over 80% (the higher figure for Scotland should be viewed with caution). Even where workload is reportedly falling, in the North of England and Wales, the proportion is close to two-thirds; but in the East Midlands, where workload has advanced strongly, only 24% of respondents to this survey indicate difficulty. First posted: 31 October 2001. Last modified: 1 November 2001.