The construction sector has seen a 15.9% decrease in self-employed workers, according to the latest market analysis by Unlatch.
Research by the platform found that over the past five years, the size of Britain’s construction industry workforce has shrunk by -3%, falling from 2.27m in 2017 to 2.21m in 2022.
Even more startling is the decline that Britain has seen in the number of self-employed members of the construction workforce which has fallen by -15.9%, from 852,000 in 2017 to 693,000 today.
In the past year alone, the number of self-employed workers in the industry has fallen by -3.9%, but there is a glimmer of hope as over the past year the size of the full-time construction workforce has grown by 1.6%.
But what does decline this mean for developers?
Lee Martin, head of UK for Unlatch, warned: “It’s an astonishingly complex ecosystem out there at the moment.
“For housebuilders and developers, there are challenges both old and new waiting around every corner and, with each passing day and political decision, new challenges are created.
“The only way such challenges can be well and truly overcome is for central decision makers to step up and make major changes to industry standards and best practice.”
This five-year decline can be attributed to a number of factors, but a major cause is the inability to attract new, young people to the industry.
Complications brought on by Brexit means that a lot of skilled labour has now left the UK and those who remain are rapidly ageing.
But workforce issues are not the only challenge currently facing the construction industry in 2022. Here is a rundown of a few more.
Brexit and Covid have teamed up to make it much more difficult to source primary construction materials.
Languishing supply chain issues and a shortage of core materials means prices have increased by 24% in the past year.
A lack of skilled labour and increased material costs are combining to result in reduction in build quality.
Additionally, according to the ONS, productivity levels in the construction industry are consistently below the UK national average, based on factors such as low output, late project delivery, and reduced profits.
What’s more, labour wages and worker compensation in construction sit below that of the rest of the economy.
Martin continued: “Individual developers can go some way to improving their own fortunes by implementing smaller internal changes such as investing in digital technology to improve quality while reducing timelines and costs.
“At Unlatch, our primary goal has always been to help developers create a more sustainable and accelerated sales approach through our unique PropTech software.
“In doing so, we’ve managed to reduce the average exchange timescale to 25 days from point of reservation, providing a more seamless purchasing experience for both developer and buyer, whilst using the data and analysis we gather to save even more time for the marketing departments of our clients.
He concluded: “So while the sector remains susceptible to a myriad of challenges that we are yet to find a solution to, there are other ways that the nation’s developers can streamline their existing processes in order to improve performance.”
