Randstad CPE has called for an ‘army of builders’ to combat a fall in construction.
The specialist construction recruiter was responding to figures showing construction industry output fell 0.5% in November 2015 compared with the previous month.
Owen Goodhead, Managing Director of Randstand CPE, said: “The UK literally needs an army of builders, or more precisely, 12 armies – given the need for a million extra construction workers by 2020.”
Owen said projects planned for the next few years would see firms competing against one another to find the right people.
“Skills shortages will define UK construction and engineering for years to come – if not decades,” said Owen.
“Political careers have been built on the dream of homeownership, on aspirations for world class infrastructure and on the hope inspired by all the jobs that could be created in a real nation of builders.
“But we need to lay more solid foundations than dreams and speeches alone – and the most concrete, the most resilient of resources is people.”
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