Average wages across the UK construction industry are up 9% amid a skills shortage as EU workers leave the UK, according to research from Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering. 

Randstad’s research looked into 6,800 permanent placed construction jobs which showed that salaries across the sector rose 9% in the 12 months to 30th May 2019, despite a drop in the number of vacancies being advertised.  Average pay rose from £42,300 to £45,900.

Site managers have seen their pay rise 3% to £50,500, up from £48,800 the previous year. Average salaries are higher in London, currently sitting at £53,400. 

Owen Goodhead, managing director of Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering said the rise in salaries for site managers was good news for individuals, but “potentially not such great news for the economy.”

“Our research shows that construction workers from overseas are being put off coming to the UK and those that are here are thinking about moving elsewhere; we know that over a third of European construction workers who are already here have considered leaving the UK due to Brexit,” Goodhead said. “This should be of huge concern to industry leaders and the government, especially in the capital where nearly one in three people working in London’s construction sector were born in the EU.  The shrinking pool of EU talent is already driving up wages, that’s the power of supply and demand.”

Meanwhile, maintenance engineers have seen salaries rise by 5% while site engineers have seen their average asking salaries rise by 19%.

“The most important thing to the construction industry is being able to hire, retain and train the talented people we need.  That’s getting harder as the UK’s employment landscape changes in the wake of Brexit,” Goodhead said.

“On the back of political and economic uncertainty, output is declining at its swiftest rate since September 2017,” Goodhead said. “Civil engineering activity has been falling month on month for most of 2019.  if the UK’s pool of European talent wasn’t shrinking so fast, the drop in demand would be nudging asking salaries down.  Brexit is widening the construction skills gap.”