26,250 new construction workers needed in Scotland by 2025

With the 2021 construction apprenticeship recruitment figures beating expectations, it was reassuring to hear the latest Construction Skills Network (CSN) Outlook for 2021-2025 for Scotland. The report predicts that Scotland needs an extra 26,250 new workers between the end of 2020 and 2025; over 5,200 per year.

FMB members are all too familiar with the pressures and consequences of competing for and keeping skilled workers. On the plus side, the economic forecast in the report is positive. The CSN predicts that Scotland's overall output growth level is an annual average increase of 4.1%.

Expected construction output growth for Scotland

The 2021-2025 Outlook, produced with Experian, forecasts annual average output growth in Scotland across several sectors of the construction industry. The three sectors that are likely to be of most interest to members and their construction businesses in Scotland are listed below, alongside the expected annual average forecast growth from 2021-2025:

1. Private Housing – 6.3%
2. Housing Repairs & Maintenance – 3.5%
3. Non-housing Repairs & Maintenance – 2.7%

For the overall industry, the report expects economic output to return to pre-Covid-19 levels in 2022. We have already recovered to pre-pandemic levels regarding apprenticeship recruitment, with over 5,200 construction apprenticeship starts reported for 2021, which exceeds the 2019 figure. Of course, the numbers only tell one part of the story. It is protecting the quality of construction craft apprenticeships in Scotland which is of the utmost importance to members.

Read more about our work to make it easier for SME builders to take on apprentices, and to provide training for their existing workforce on our skills and training campaign page.

Authors

Gordon Nelson

FMB Scotland Hub Director, Federation of Master Builders

Director, Federation of Master Builders Scotland

Gordon has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles. Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. Gordon is the Secretary of the Cross-Party Group on Construction in the Scottish Parliament, and he is a member of the Scottish Building Standards Futures Board. Gordon represents the FMB on Scotland’s Construction Industry Collective Voice: which is comprised of the leading construction trade and professional bodies. In spring 2023 Gordon was appointed as an industry co-chair of the Construction Leaderships Forum’s (CLF) Transformation Board.

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