Reportedly, the new government’s approach is to avoid reliance on overseas workers to lower net migration while upskilling workers already in the UK and improving their working conditions.

However, BCIS points out that the government’s plans to boost vocational courses will take time to get workers on-site.

According to a Construction Industry Training Board estimate, the industry needs another 152,000 workers to deliver Labour’s plans for 1.5 million new homes alone.

BCIS chief economist Dr David Crosthwaite said: “The degree to which Labour can support migration in the short-term at least, to meet the immediate needs of the construction industry, while also working on the longer-term ambition to grow the skills base in the UK, remains to be seen.”

It also said the UK had lost the European labour it had relied on post-Brexit, while the domestic workforce had declined since the pandemic.

At the same time, demand has also reduced as successive shocks have hit the industry since COVID-19—rampant inflation, sustained high borrowing costs, and conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

While demand has been lower, the effects of a shrinking workforce have been less noticeable, but when demand picks up, these losses will be felt acutely.

Total employment in construction stood at 2,078,926 people in the first quarter of 2024, with just over one-third being self-employed and just under two-thirds directly employed.