Construction job postings rise reached their highest level in more than two years in July, according to data from the Bricks & Bytes-covered Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), even as official vacancy figures simultaneously bucked a wider economic downturn, all against a backdrop of projections that the sector will need more than one million additional workers by 2035.
REC and ONS data both point upward
The REC recorded 123,836 active construction postings in July, up 8 per cent year on year. That figure is the highest since May 2024, when postings reached 134,757. Separately, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that construction vacancies totalled a rounded 31,000 in the three months to the end of July, 5.7 per cent higher than in the preceding quarter and 2.3 per cent higher than in the equivalent period of 2025. Across the wider economy, vacancies fell to their lowest level in five years during the same period, making the construction figures all the more arresting.
Within the REC breakdown, certain roles drove the overall increase with particular force. Job postings for civil engineers rose by more than a quarter year on year in July. Those for electrical and electronic-product assemblers increased by a fifth, while ads for carpenters and joiners rose by 19 per cent. Not every trade shared in the upturn: postings for scaffolders, stagers and riggers fell by 13 per cent over the same period.
Maxine Bligh, chief membership and innovation officer at the REC, said seasonal job opportunities had made a comeback in sectors including construction. She added: ‘It is not straightforward for young people to earn wages just yet, with many entry-level jobs still not bouncing back as much as we would like, but there are undoubtedly more opportunities across hospitality, tourism and construction than last year.’
Bligh noted that the prospect of an Indian summer across much of the UK may extend those opportunities beyond their usual seasonal window. ‘Now the challenge is to carry this hiring momentum into the rest of the year and across more sectors,’ she said. ‘There is still a lot to be determined about the direction of travel the new prime minister will take on igniting growth.’
Construction job postings rise against a one-million-worker shortfall
The short-term improvement in postings arrives against a long-term structural challenge of considerable scale. Skills England has projected that employment demand across 30 priority construction occupations will grow by 493,000 workers, equivalent to 26 per cent, between 2025 and 2035. According to Building, that represents the largest projected increase in workers across all priority sectors in the Skills England analysis.
When attrition is added, the picture becomes more acute. The GOV.UK Skills England sector assessment estimates that 595,000 workers are expected to leave priority construction occupations over the same period, bringing total workforce demand to 1,088,000. Those figures were cited in evidence to the House of Lords Built Environment Committee in June.
The drivers behind that demand are specific. Skills England has pointed to the government’s target of 1.5 million homes in England this Parliament alongside a large infrastructure pipeline, rather than to ordinary market growth, as the primary reasons for the projected increase in priority occupations. For the sector’s sustainability and decarbonisation workstreams, that distinction matters: a demand signal anchored in housebuilding volume and infrastructure delivery carries implications for the mix of skills required, including those associated with low-carbon construction, fabric-first design and modern methods of manufacture.
On the supply side, government has moved to address the gap. The National Audit Office has reported that the government announced an initial £625 million funding package aimed at training up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers by 2029. Whether that investment reaches the trades and specialisms most exposed to the projected shortfall, particularly those tied to net-zero retrofit, heat-pump installation and low-carbon building fabric, will be a key question as the programme develops.
