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Occupations
The occupational composition of the workforce in construction is distinctive from most other industries, in that a high proportion (approximately 50%) of the workforce is made up of people with well-developed manual skills, (such as bricklayers, steel erectors, roofers, carpenters, glaziers etc), compared to around 10% in the economy as a whole. Consequently, employment tends to be proportionately less concentrated in managerial and professional occupations.
It is predicted that the strongest proportionate growth in employment in construction will be in managerial, technical and professional occupations with demand for trade/craft occupation growing much more slowly (although in many occupations, such as carpenters, joiners and bricklayers, this equates to large absolute increases in demand).
The greatest increase cumulative requirement over the period 2004-2008 will be for:
- wood trades
- managers
- electricians
- clerical
- plumbers
- bricklayers
Comparable to the figures for England, 39% of those working in construction are employed in higher level occupations including: 13% as managers and senior officials; 18% as Professionals; and 8% as Associate Professionals. 29% of the workforce are employed in Skilled Trades, compared to only 9%, on average, in England. There are fewer proportions employed in Personal Service occupations (less than 0.5%) compared to the figures for England (6%). This is similar to Customer Service occupations (3% compared to 16% across England.
If demand for some construction occupations is to be met, it is essential that the decline in participation in higher education construction-related courses is reversed. However, current figures for 2005/06 suggest that this may be happening, as acceptances on construction related courses have increased. Companies need to boost the provision of training for the existing workforce and the industry needs to take steps to address its widespread image problems. See education and training for more information on up-skilling the workforce.
Source: CITB-ConstructionSkills website 2006, Sector Skills Agreement for Construction – England 2005, Working Futures 2006 and Spilsbury Research 2004
Construction employment and requirement in Great Britain by occupation, 2004-2008
Source: Sector Skills Agreement for Construction – England 2005, table 4. (From CITB-ConstructionSkills Employment Model, 2004)
Notes:
(1) Specialist Building, (2) Civil Engineering
Numbers rounded to the nearest ten - totals may not add up due to rounding
Average Annual Requirement & Cumulative Requirement totals do not include Non-construction Operatives
* Cumulative Requirement for 2004-2008 inclusive (5 years)
For more information on the occupational profile of the sector workforce see:
Sources of occupational information, job roles and case studies
CITB-ConstructionSkills has published case studies on different roles in the construction which can be accessed from their website. There is also a section on job profiles in specific jobs can be searched or broad occupational areas. Some selected examples include:
- wood occupations (i.e. bench joiner, shop fitter, etc.)
- roofing occupations (i.e. roof slater and tiler, lead sheeter)
- demolition occupations (i.e. scaffolder, steeplejack, etc.)
- technical support (i.e. architectural technician, plant technical support, site inspector, etc.)
CITB-ConstructionSkills has developed a Future Skills website which has information on the various occupational trends in the construction sector.
A variety of key roles in the construction and property management sector are identified by Prospects and detailed information is available. Some selected examples include: architect; building services engineer; site engineer; urban general practice surveyor; and civil engineer). For information on these, and other, roles plus case studies on the sector go to the Prospects website.
The learndirect website also has detailed occupational profiles for the construction sector. These profiles include information on entry points, training, working environment, employment opportunities and expected annual salary.
For information on architects, surveyors and town planners see Professions allied to construction.
Last cached: 2008-05-07 01:26 PM