Hi Justin
The story follows. Thanks very much for your expertise, or/and expert-eyes.
You don't think the coding line with the '?' in it isn't a problem? - It's just that it's new to me. (Well, almost everything is.) This one -
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<!-- <p> LMI </p>
<p>The construction industry </p>
<p>The national picture </p>
<p>The London angle</p>
<p> Recruitment</p>-->
<p><strong>The national picture</strong>:
About 2 million people or 1 in 14 of the UK workforce, are employed in construction. 46% are qualified to NVQ3 or above and 41% completed some form of apprenticeship. </p>
<p>A 2003 report by the CITB found that relatively few employers were unhappy about the skill levels of most of their existing workforce but that there was concern about the skills of new employees. </p>
<div id="RightQuote">
<img src="../images/xtras/GreyQuote.gif"> The trend in applications is now up again and the CITB has set up a scholarship scheme to encourage able young people to apply to HE courses relevant to the industry - <a href="
here</a> for details.The closing date for applications is May 30. <img src="../images/xtras/GreyUnquote.gif">
</div><p>
Interestingly, employers' reports of skill gaps are fewer in construction than for the rest of the economy. Nearly half of all construction work is repair and maintenance work with private commercial work the second largest part of the industry.
</p>
<p>
<a href="
Construction Industry Training Board</a> [CITB] predicts modest growth [about 2%] in employment in the industry. In the short term employment in all occupations is expected to grow except for plasterers and clerical staff. </p>
<p>In the longer term, by the end of the decade, the CITB expects that the industry will need fewer craft personnel but more managers, technicians, sales and customer service personnel. </p>
<p>
A worrying trend for the industry was a spectacular decline in the numbers of applicants for construction courses in higher education with a number of courses closing through lack of numbers.
</p>
[PAGEBREAK]
<p>
The trend in applications is now up again and the CITB has set up a scholarship scheme to encourage able young people to apply to HE courses relevant to the industry - <a href="
here</a> for details. The closing date for applications is 30/5/06.
</p>
<p>
The majority of construction firms are small. 47% of companies in the industry are sole traders, less than 10% employ more than 50 staff and less than 1% employ over 250. </p>
<p>These large companies [250+ staff] though account for approx. 30% of direct employment and 36% of output. About 35% of those working in the industry are self-employed and this proportion is over 50 % for many trades, such as plastering, painting and decorating, bricklaying, roofing and carpentry. </p>
<p>
It remains a largely male and white industry. 9.3% of the workforce is female and 2.4% comes from ethnic minorities, though there is a marked increase in the latter amongst new trainees. In terms of numbers the most common occupations are in descending order: wood trades, managers, electricians, office staff, plumbers and bricklayers. [PAGEBREAK] </p>
<p>Generally it is an aging workforce with a decline in recent years in the numbers of people under 30 employed in the industry and rising numbers over 40. </p>
<p>
Among those employers who do recruit 16-24 year olds the most common ways of recruiting were advertising in the local or regional press or word of mouth. The most common factors looked for are interest, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. [PAGEBREAK]
</p><p>
<strong>Technological change</strong>: Since so much of the industry is involved in the maintenance and repair of existing buildings change is gradual. </p>
<p>The increasing use of timber frames is likely to lead to some increase in employment in the wood trades
and the increasing use of IT in buildings will result in a higher demand for electricians to carry out its installation and maintenance. Prefabrication off site, already common in the industry, is likely to increase. </p>
<p>
On site work is likely to become increasingly likely to become an assembly process of factory-produced products. In the long term it is expected that this will lead to fewer tradespeople working on site and put a premium on staff with planning and logistics skills. [PAGEBREAK]
</p>
<h1 class="guard">The local picture</h1><p>
In London, 200,000 are employed in the industry of London?s workforce. The number peaked at nearly 300,000 in the late 1980s, fell sharply in the early 1990s and since has remained fairly stable. </p>
<p>About 60% of London?s construction activity is new build, higher than the national average, and private commercial work, largely offices, is the most significant part of it.
</p>
<p>
The remainder is in repairs and maintenance. As one might expect, large firms [115+ staff] carry out over half the new work with smaller firms tending to concentrate on the repair and maintenance sector. </p>
<p>The industry in London is more volatile than the rest of the country and its state is influenced by the state of the property market and the relative performance of non-property investments. </p>
<p>
Construction employment fell faster in London in the early 1990s but then recovered more quickly. </p>
<p>[PAGEBREAK] </p>
<p>
In such a mobile industry as construction there are few meaningful figures just for East London. In fact, the industry? characteristics of small business, self employment, contracting, sub contracting and cash payment make most statistics unreliable. </p>
<p>It is common for someone, say, to live in East London, work for a firm based in West London work on contracts mainly in Central London. </p>
<p>
About a quarter of construction jobs are filled by commuters living outside London. In London overall construction has now returned to the levels of the early 1990s. Only modest further employment growth is expected in the industry. </p>
<p>Though the value of construction work in London has gone up, increasing productivity has not led to an increase in the workforce. </p>
<p>[PAGEBREAK] </p>
<p>
A smaller proportion of construction employers in London report vacancies and skill shortages than construction employers nationally and they are no more likely to report skill shortages than London employers as a whole.
</p>
<p>
The age profile is broadly similar to the national one. 10% are female and 13% come from black and ethnic minority groups. Interestingly, given the publicity given to the influx of workers from Eastern Europe, the proportion of workforce born overseas at 20% is lower than the London average for all sectors of 27%. </p>
<p>The largest occupational groups in descending order are <ul>
<li class="ListCube">managers, </li>
<li class="ListCube">wood trades, </li>
<li class="ListCube">electricians, </li>
<li class="ListCube">plumbers and </li>
<li class="ListCube">professionals.</li></ul> </p>
[PAGEBREAK]
<p>
As regards skill shortages employers report the skills in shortest supply are carpenters and joiners, bricklayers and painters and decorators. </p>
<p>In the last few years there has been considerable rise in first year intake into the industry though the proportion of apprentices is below the national average. One problem in London is the lack of specialist training provision. </p>
<p>Courses in areas such as shopfitting, plant operation and steel fixing are only available outside the London area. The proportion of first year trainees in the industry taking a Modern Apprenticeship is well below the national average. </p>
<p>
Forecasters differ in their projections of construction employment and the lack of reliable statistics make projections difficult.</p>
<p> Oxford Economic Forecasting are the most optimistic, predicting a rise to approx. 250,000 by 2015 and GLA Economics the most pessimistic, predicting a decline to about 150,000. </p>
<p>Other forecasters estimates are between these extremes and the general consensus is that employment will remain broadly stable at around the 200,000 mark. </p>
[PAGEBREAK]
<h1 class="guard">Recruitment</h1>
<p>
The<a href="
Employment Service</a>has plenty of vacancies in the industry but they are mostly for skilled and experienced staff. </p>
<p>The CITB tries to place into work those under 25 who pass its aptitude test but they cannot guarantee to and advise people to make their own direct approach to employers. They are ?not an employment agency? in the words of one of its Training Advisers. </p>
<p>They also advise would be entrants to the industry to apply for full time courses as a back up. </p>
<p>
There would seem to be a paradox of a reported labour shortage but few advertised vacancies for new entrants. In fact, labour shortages in the industry are no worse than for other industries in London and are lower than in the UK as a whole.
</p><p>
One other explanation for the lack of advertised vacancies is that much recruitment in the industry is by direct approach and word of mouth. It is normal practice for people to approach the site agent on a building site to see if there is any work. [PAGEBREAK]
</p>
<p>
Staff who do a good job on one site are then invited back to work on others. In London there is the additional factor that many construction workers are 'commuters' from other parts of the country so the vacancies, if advertised, are elsewhere. </p>
<p>The best advice we can give to those who seek our help is to send off speculative applications to likely employers and to help them build up lists of local firms. </p>
<p>
Another explanation is the structure of the industry is highly fragmented with mostly small firms and 43% of construction workers in London being self-employed. Despite the best efforts of the CITB few firms are in a position to offer structured training. </p>
<p>A 2003 CITB report says, 'Construction work is almost entirely done on a project by project basis, whereby contractors will draw together teams of people who often work for quite a short period of time and then move on to another location or disperse. </p>
<p>'Much of this work is managed by a main contractor who deals with client but who sub contracts parts of it to smaller firms who specialise in particular aspects of the process. </p>
<p>[PAGEBREAK] The CITB report goes on,
'To cope with fluctuating workload, much of the workforce at site level is hired on a self-employed basis. In this form of <em>secondary </em>labour there is little opportunity or incentive to invest in training. </p>
<p>'Research into companies who rely heavily on self employment show them to be the least involved in training,' the report states. </p>
<p>
<strong>Older applicants:</strong> There is no particular upper age limit but much of the financial support for trainees is for under 25s. In practice there seems to be little recruitment of new entrants over 50 into the industry.
</p>
<p class="indent"><font color="#FF9933"><b>Main sources</b></font>: CITB research reports, GLA Economics. I am building up a file on the industry at SOV which staff are welcome to consult. Please contact me on 020 8536 3647 or you can <a href="mailto:charles.harvey@vtplc.com">email me</a>.
</p><p>
<p class="indent"><font color="#FF9933"><b>Recommended reading: </b></font><br>
<a href="
the foundations</a> - London's construction industry (GLA Economics February 2006).
<p class="indent"><font color="#FF9933"><b>Links</b></font>:<br>
<a href="
Employment Service</a><br>
<a href="
relevant courses</a><br>
<a href="
Construction Industry Training Board</a><br>
<a href="mailto:charles.harvey@vtplc.com" title="You can email Mr Harvey from here.">Contact the expert</a></p>
