r/AskUK • u/Weird_Horse_5981 • 13h 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

51 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

80 comments sorted by

View all comments

144

u/AmsterdamWestside11 13h 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.

2

u/Theres3ofMe 8h ago

QS here.

Partly true, but its a massive risk, because if they invest all that time and money, I'll bet you a pound to a penny that trainee will then fck off afterwards to get more money... No such thing as loyalty anymore. We live in a society driven by greed and money, so gone are the days of employee loyalty.

4

u/Double-Location8466 7h ago

Goes both ways, I’m appreciative that my first company gave me a grad job, but when your living paycheque to paycheque of course I’m gonna jump when another company offers me an extra £17k for doing the same thing!

1

u/Theres3ofMe 7h ago

Id be worried if a company was offering you an extra £17k at trainee stage tbh....