One in twelve advertised jobs in the UK is in the Trade and Construction sector

New research from UK-wide trade supplies merchant City Plumbing reveals that there are over one million advertised jobs in the Trade & Construction sector in UK right now (1.17 million), representing 8% of all open roles.

Furthermore, this has increased by 345% in the last year alone highlighting just how much this sector is booming.

Builders/labourers are the most sought-after tradespeople currently (8,100 vacancies), followed by electricians (5,641), painter/decorators (3,866), carpenters (3,491) and plumbers (3,251).

Kent, Greater Manchester, South East London, Hampshire and Essex currently have the most trade roles being advertised.

Top Ten UK Areas with the Most Trade/Construction Roles Advertised

	Area	Number Roles Currently Advertised
1	Kent	3,957
2	Greater Manchester	3,345
3	South East London	3,202
4	Hampshire	2,889
5	Essex	2,803
6	Hertfordshire	2,543
7	Surrey	2,266
8	East Sussex	2,179
9	Buckinghamshire	2,025
10	West Yorkshire	2,008

 

The current advertised salary in this sector is £37,939 per year, which is 10.9% higher than the UK average (£34,261). Salaries here have also increased 4.3% year-on-year, with demand increasing competition and this in turn driving up the amount of money that businesses are prepared to pay for skilled tradespeople.

Current average advertised salary per role:

• Heating Engineer £44,305
• Carpenter £41,284
• Window Fitter £40,198
• Plumber/Pipe Fitter £38,573
• Tiler £38,377
• Electrician £37,780
• Bathroom Fitter £37,158
• Joiner £36,746
• Plasterer £35,498
• Painter Decorator £33,004
• Floor Layer £32,403
• Roofer £32,244
• Tradesperson £30,294
• Carpet Fitter £30,194
• Tree Surgeon £28,883
• Specialist Welder £27,436
• Landscape Gardener £27,319
• Builder/Labourer £23,450
• Locksmith £25,830

Demand in some areas is further increasing salaries for specific roles too – a gardener in Manchester could earn £9k more than the UK average (£34,093 versus £25,047) and it’s the same for a plumber in Warrington (£41,889 versus £32,864).

An apprenticeship is the usual route into this industry, and 7% of all apprenticeships that commenced in England this year were in the construction/planning and build environment sector. However, the number of trade apprentices has declined recently – there were 17,700 starters this year, down from 21,920 in 2020 and 22,530 in 2019.

In a typical year, 85% of new apprentices are aged 25 or under, and experts believe that in order to plug the current skills gap more older adults should be encouraged to re-train in this area. City Plumbing’s ‘School’s Out, Trades In’ report reveals that more than one in nine working adults in the UK (12%) are currently considering it too.

The most popular trades to upskill in are plumbing (11%), building (11%), gardening (8%), electrics (6%), joinery (6%) and painting/decorating (5%).