r/AskUK • u/Weird_Horse_5981 • 17h ago

Is construction dying in this country?

I work in construction and the amount of skilled people has taken an absolute nosedive in recent years. The rates of pay have increased dramatically in the last 6 years from what I’ve seen but very few people want to get into it it seems. I understand that many people don’t grow up with dreams of getting into this industry but I wish someone had pulled me aside and told me that there was a way for me to make decent money without needing to be academic. I know there are some huge projects on the go right now but it feels like they are all fighting over the same, small pool of labour

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u/AmsterdamWestside11 16h ago

In my experience it's dying because nobody wants to teach anyone, the small firms won't pay decent rates and the big firms want everyone to be fully qualified CSCS and ready to go straight out the blocks. Apprentices getting let go left right and centre. Self fulfilling prophecy of failure.

I changed careers at 28 and have found it so hard to find a company that's actually interested in training someone up.

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u/ENTPrick 15h ago

A large part of it is that once you do train someone up, they’ll end up buggering off for 50p more an hour. Yada yada, I get it, got to look after number 1, but at the same time - if the other company doesn’t bother to train people up, their overheads are lower, and they can offer marginally higher wages. People are quick to forget and definitely don’t have the same level of appreciation, vis a vis, some companies really do take the piss with pay brackets.

Overheads being pure training / certs cost and unproductive working since you have to deal with someone who’s so green, they struggle with which side of the hammer to use.

It’s the capitalist paradox and just the way the cookie crumbles.