If you feel stuck in a dead-end job or simply aren’t enjoying your career anymore, then you’re likely to be weighing up your career options right now. Family members may encourage you to be a labourer if you’re a practical person, but do you often wonder ‘what is a labourer?’ and ‘what does a labourer do?’. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Find out if a career as a labourer is for you.

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A shortage of skilled workers is affecting every area of construction industry and if Britain decides to leave the EU, we could experience real crisis with in the construction industry in the UK. A lot of people who currently work within construction are Latvian, Bulgarian or Polish, and without these people, companies in the UK will not be able to complete their projects on time. In most circumstances, Eastern Europe labour is what helps keep some construction sites going.

If you are a regular reader of our blog posts, you will know that we have discussed the skills shortage in the plumbing, electrical, and carpentry industries at length. But we want to make you aware that these are not the only industries affected. The UK also has a distinct shortage of bricklayers and plasterers.

A director of Beard Constructions John Youle, who is based at Cumnor Hill, Oxfordshire, said: “contractors are struggling to find enough workers, particularly skilled bricklayers and plasterers. As a result of this shortage, the going rate for a bricklayer has increased to £200 per day.

He went on to say:

“In Oxford, there have been increasing signs of a skills shortage in the industry. Bricklayers’ pay has gone up considerably during the past 18-24 months. It is not uncommon for bricklayers and plasterers to charge £150 - £200 per day or £1000 per week! Even newly qualified bricklayers are charging £150 per day.

In the UK, there is always huge demand for new homes to be build, and with many other projects on the pipeline, like the updating of City Centres (take Leeds for example) there is huge demand for people who are fully trained bricklayers and plasterers. This demand is showing no signs of decreasing any time soon. So to help alleviate the current pressures on companies, and tradespeople alike, the construction industry needs new talent entering the industry. This is where the education of people (we say people, because young or older people are unaware of the benefits of a career in the trade industry) is crucial to motivate them to consider embarking on a diverse career in plastering or bricklaying.

Here at access training, not only do we provide bespoke electrical and plumbing courses, we also deliver a range of bricklaying and plastering courses, that have been developed specifically to help people who have no previous experience of plastering or bricklaying gain top quality skills as quickly as possible to get them onto the site and earning £30K+  a year!

If you are interested in a career in bricklaying, or plastering, you can contact us by filling out the forms of the relevant course pages, or call us on 0800 345 7492 to speak to a course advisor. 

Last year the government announced that they are planning on building 1 million homes by the end of the current parliament in 2020. To reach this target 200,000 new homes will have to be built per year. This will be the biggest building level of house building seen in England since 1989. During the last financial year, there were only 124,520 new homes built in England - a serious shortcoming if the government wants to hit their ambitious target.  

Sarah McMonagle, head of external affairs at the Federation of Master Builders said: “there’s a growing consensus that the skills shortage within the construction sector is one of the greatest threats to the government’s ambition to build 1 million homes by 2020”… “More than 400,000 tradespeople left the industry during the prolonged economic downturn and that talent has not yet been replaced. The construction sector has been growing steadily for two or three years and as it grows, the skills gap continues to widen”

Research also found that “one in two SME construction firms are struggling to hire bricklayers and 52% are reporting difficulties finding carpenters and joiners.” Carpenters and joiners are core trades to house builders; with the current shortage it presents a real barrier to growth in the housing sector.

This is the worst skills shortage Britain has seen in 30 years, but if you are thinking about changing your career, or learning a trade, now is the best time! The skills shortage means that there are loads of opportunities for skilled carpenters and bricklayers, so you can be certain there will be a consistent work flow, and because of the scarcity of skills means that people who are willing to train and plug the gap will be heavily rewarded for their work.

At Access Training strongly believe that it is important to help reduce the skills gap that Britain is currently facing, and to prevent there being a skills shortage in the Britain in the future. This is one of the reasons why we dedicate our time to delivering some of the best, bespoke, trades training packages in the UK, from our state-of-the-art training centres around the UK. 

For more information about our carpentry or bricklaying courses, get in touch and speak to one of our advisor's today!

If you caught our blog post yesterday you'd have seen that Britain's capital has quite a few construction projects in mind, and so skilled bricklayers are needed more than ever to keep up with the schedule. So much in fact, that wages are approaching an all-time high.

With wage inflation rates currently running as high as 10% thanks to skill shortages, bricklayers are are currently earning around £170 per day. However specialists are expecting this to rise to a staggering £200 a day!

Carpenters are another trade currently enjoying similar pay rates, with plasterers also cited as being in high demand.

These are big plans for London rennovation, and qualified constuction workers in the area won't only be finding themselves with plenty of work available - they'll also be able to enjoy these incredible pay rates. If you require the right qualifications to work onsite or want to retrain to work in the construction trade, Access Training Academies are here to help. With our intensive bricklaying, carpentry, plastering, tiling, plumbing, electric, gas and decorating training courses, you'll be able to quickly and effectively learn the skills you need from veteran tradesmen with years' of experience in the business.

Take advantage of the amazing construction opportunities available and give us a call on 0800 345 7492 today.

Via Construction Enquirer