Earlier today, George
Clarke, a TV personality best known for presenting Restoration man, and George
Clarke’s Amazing places posted a tweet raising awareness of the critical skills
shortage we are currently experiencing in the UK Construction Industry.
To say that this tweet received some interesting reply s on how
people thought the industry could change to help encourage more people into
learning a skilled trade.
"The wage is shocking"
Some people responded by saying that the wages for skilled
workers are poor, and that the wage needs to increase to encourage more people
to train. This is a common misconception about skilled work. When you are a
fully trained electrician, plumber or bricklayer, you could be earning up to
£100,000 per year, well above the national average wage of £26,500.
"People are being encouraged to go to university instead of learning a trade"
Other people were voicing concerns over the fact that
children are being encouraged to go to university instead of learning a practical
trade. However, not everybody wants to attend university. Many people don’t
like the idea of carrying on their education for an extra 3 or 4 years, to then
leave with an extraordinary amount of debt and not have a guaranteed job at the
end of it all.
By informing children that there are other routes to work,
and well-paid work, we might add. Is a crucial step that needs to be taken to
close the current skill gap. This will only happen if the education system and
the construction industry come together to help educate the next generation. This
is a topic we have written about in the past, and it is certainly an area leaders
of the construction industry are keen to explore to see if more can be done to
help raise awareness and educate children, not just at school leaving age, but throughout
their time in education about the importance of skilled trade’s people.
"You can't get stable work"
This is another misconception about skilled trade work. Plumbers and Electricians, be it domestic or commercially trained, are always in demand. People are always going to need plumbers and electricians to help them out in an emergency, or need an electrician to wire a newly built house. To increase your chances of winning work over your competitors, you can easily expand your skill set so you can take on more specialist jobs, or a wider variety of work.
Currently the industry is is crying out for more Plumbers, Electricians and bricklayers that the chance of you landing a contract shortly after you have completed your course, is incredibly high. Thus making this the perfect time to begin learning a trade.
Here, at Access Training we offer a variety of courses for people who are looking to learn a trade. All of our courses are designed for the complete beginner, and will take you on a journey through to becoming a true industry expert. So if you are interested in becoming a
Bricklayer,
Electrician or a
Plumber, don't hesitate to
get in touch!
