UK construction sees second-highest pay increase of all sectors

Dominick Sandford, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect and ElectricalDirect, said:

“Over the summer, the average pay in UK construction rose at a faster rate than all but one sector, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.

“In June, typical weekly earnings stood at £707, which was the fourth consecutive month where income topped £700, having never previously done so since records began in 2000.

“This meant the three-month seasonally adjusted average was 6.3% higher than it was in 2021, and this level of growth was second only to Wholesaling, Retailing, Hotels and Restaurants (7.7%) across all UK sectors.

“For context, the whole economy saw an increase of 5.1%, putting construction well ahead of the trend.

“This strong performance was largely due to a massive 22.7% increase in weekly bonuses (three-month average), which now stands at £39. This is more than double the growth seen across all industries (10.4%).

“Wages have increased in tandem with hours worked. The latest data shows that the typical construction employee now works 36.2 hours a week (April-June), which is up by half an hour from the previous period (March-May: 35.7).

“This is despite the continuous rise of the number of individuals employed by the sector, suggesting that there is plenty of work to share around. Employment in construction jumped by 22,000 to 2.2 million in April-June, which is 125,000 more than the lowest point experienced during Coronavirus (October-December 2020).

“The current level of employment is the highest it’s been since the pandemic began, which is great news for the industry. However, it is still 96,000 lower than January-March 2020, so recovery is certainly still ongoing.

“The coming months are going to be difficult for the whole country, with the cost of living crisis biting hard. The pay increases seen recently will certainly be welcome for those working in UK construction, but it is important that they continue into the winter to help offset rising costs and inflation.”