Self employed bricklayers and carpenter wages rise by 20%
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Self employed carpenters bricklayers and rest of the trades are seeing massive increases in wages according to one of the largest payers of subcontractors.
The rise in wages comes on the back of a massive housing boom in both the domestic and commercial markets as the country bounces out of lockdown with all regions in England have seeing double-digit earnings growth year on year taking average CIS weekly wages to £878.
The highest rises are seen in the Northeast and Northwest that have gone up around 27% and 23% respectively the growing pressure on supply chain and labour has been a major factor with shortages of materials and labour now at crisis levels.
These shortages in labour are a double whammy with many EU workers retiring to their home counties during the pandemic and not returning and many tradesmen leaving the industry this comes inline with materials shortages that have pushed up material prices as reported by nationaltradesmen.co.uk throughout the pandemic.
| Region | April 2021 | Mar to April % Change |
Year on year % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £734 | -6.9% | 27.0% |
| North West | £862 | -4.3% | 22.4% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £817 | -4.9% | 26.9% |
| East Midlands | £938 | -3.1% | 16.1% |
| West Midlands | £889 | -4.1% | 19.5% |
| Wales | £863 | 3.6% | 22.4% |
| East of England | £952 | -6.3% | 17.2% |
| London | £847 | -6.7% | 4.7% |
| South East | £917 | -5.5% | 18.6% |
| South West | £847 | -4.4% | 29.1% |
Although month on month, earnings slipped by 4.6%, as expected due to the Easter bank holidays the increase in labour costs highlights growing pressure on the supply chain in general.
Ian Anfield, managing director at Hudson contract, Commented saying that: “The housing market is in a state of frenzy with mortgage lending rising to record levels, homeowners are spending cash piles built up during lockdowns on renovation and remodelling work and the government is proceeding with mega-projects and shovel-ready schemes to ‘build back better’.
“The UK economy is roaring so the challenge now is for the construction industry to keep pace while dealing with spikes in demand for skilled labour and materials.
“Clients are now telling us the materials crisis is outstripping the skills shortage as the main threat to their growth prospects and the main cause of inflation in construction costs.”
