In figures published by the Office For National Statistics (ONS) this week, they have said that the construction sector has recorded all-time high job vacancies since records began in 2001.

Record construction sector job vacancies

From July to September, the total number of job vacancies in the construction sector rose to 43,000. That is 45% higher than April to June and double what it was in the same period last year. You can find the full breakdown of job vacancies in the UK economy here.

Whilst it is great news that there are so many opportunities in this part of the UK economy, there continues to be a lack of skills and labour across the board. A Bloomberg survey has found 8 out of 10 UK firms are struggling to find workers. This is even despite large rises in wages to attempt to lure workers to companies.

UK fenestration continues to feel the effects of this. You only need to look at the various industry forums on social media and they are littered with posts seeking labourers and skilled installers. It’s clear installation companies are trying to grow, but they are being held back because they’re not able to find the right people to make it happen.

In theory, the maths in the UK economy means that finding workers shouldn’t be a problem. In total there are 1.1m job vacancies in the UK, and there are around 2m-ish unemployed. The reality is that there shouldn’t be the shortages in labour and workers that we are finding. So we have to then ask ourselves why we are struggling to find people to work, even though there are clearly enough people within this country to fill the vacancies in the UK economy.

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