Construction workforce could fall 10% by September

Covid-19 is set to cost almost 10% of all construction workers their jobs by September, according to a survey by the industry-government Construction Leadership Council .

The organisation’s people survey has found that there is an anticipated reduction in the construction workforce of 9.9% in the next three months.

There is also expected to be a 7.7% reduction in the number of directly employed workers across the industry by September. 

In the longer term, 43% of respondents anticipate making redundancies, with up to 20% of their workforce being affected.

There is also expected to be a 26.7% reduction in the number of self-employed and agency workers in the next three months. 

Homebuilders, specialist contractors and contractors are the most significant users of self employed and agency workers and while homebuilders and specialist contractors expect to reduce their numbers by just 4% and 11% respectively, contractors are looking to reduce self-employed and agency workers by 42%.

It found that 32% of direct employees are currently furloughed, with all sectors of the industry having accessed the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme at some point.

The survey said 43% of apprentices are currently furloughed, with 6.7% likely to lose their jobs by September. In the longer term, 10% of respondents are expecting to make apprentices redundant.

The survey results come after the Construction Products Association forecast a 42% drop in residential construction output in 2020, amid wider economic forecasts predicting a drop of more than 10% in UK GDP.

While a number of contractors have already announced plans to cut jobs, including residential builders such as Wates, housebuilders have so far not so far announced job cuts. Berkeley Group yesterday declined to comment on reports it is to make around 200 redundancies.