28/08/2026
The construction skills shortage UK is becoming one of the industry's biggest long-term challenges.
The problem is not simply that employers cannot find enough people to fill today's vacancies. The deeper issue is that the construction industry needs to replace workers who are leaving while also finding additional workers to meet future demand.
CITB's latest Construction Workforce Outlook estimates that an average of 41,200 additional workers will be needed every year between 2026 and 2030, equivalent to around 206,000 additional workers over five years.
At the same time, CITB's 2026 Industry Picture identifies four connected problems: fewer people entering construction, demand growing faster than supply, experienced workers leaving too soon and productivity not improving quickly enough to compensate.
This creates an unusual situation.
The UK can have construction projects that need to be delivered, employers that want to recruit, and people looking for work — yet still have shortages in particular skills.
The question is therefore not simply “Why can't construction companies hire?”
It is:
“Why are people leaving construction, why aren't enough new workers replacing them, and what would make more people stay?”
Are experienced construction workers retiring?
Yes, and the ageing workforce is one of the most important reasons the industry needs new entrants.
CITB's Industry Picture reports that the average age of the construction workforce is now over 42, while more than a quarter of construction workers are over 55. The proportion aged over 55 has increased substantially compared with 2000.
This creates a natural replacement challenge.
A worker who entered construction decades ago may now be approaching retirement.
Replacing that person is not necessarily as simple as hiring another person for the same job.
The departing worker may have accumulated:
- Technical knowledge
- Site experience
- Problem-solving skills
- Knowledge of regulations
- Supervisory experience
- Project-specific knowledge
- Informal mentoring skills
Some of this knowledge is difficult to transfer quickly.
That is why workforce ageing is not only a recruitment problem.
It is also a knowledge-transfer problem.
Why are experienced workers so important to construction?
Construction relies heavily on practical knowledge.
A qualification can demonstrate that someone has learned a particular skill, but experience teaches workers how to respond when real projects do not go according to plan.
For example, experienced workers may recognise:
- Potential site problems
- Poor workmanship
- Unsafe working practices
- Material issues
- Sequencing problems
- Coordination difficulties
- Practical design challenges
This knowledge can make projects safer and more efficient.
When experienced workers leave without enough time for effective knowledge transfer, employers can lose valuable capability.
That is one reason retention matters almost as much as recruitment.
Are construction workers actually leaving the industry?
Yes.
CITB's 2026 Industry Picture specifically identifies “too many workers leave industry too soon” as one of the four connected issues contributing to the construction skills gap.
This does not mean every person leaving construction is unhappy with the industry.
Workers can leave because of:
- Retirement
- Career changes
- Health or physical demands
- Better opportunities elsewhere
- Relocation
- Lack of progression
- Working conditions
- Economic uncertainty
- Family responsibilities
Some workers also move from construction into related industries where their skills remain valuable.
For example, an experienced construction professional might move into:
- Property
- Facilities management
- Manufacturing
- Engineering
- Consultancy
- Infrastructure management
- Project management
The industry therefore needs to think about retention across the entire career, not simply initial recruitment.
Is construction too physically demanding for some workers?
For certain occupations, physical demands can become a significant issue as workers get older.
Construction includes activities involving:
- Lifting
- Carrying
- Working outdoors
- Working at height
- Repetitive movements
- Kneeling
- Long periods standing
- Working in difficult conditions
Not every construction occupation has the same physical requirements.
A site manager, quantity surveyor or BIM professional may have a very different working day from a bricklayer or groundworker.
But for physically demanding trades, employers need to think about how workers can remain productive and safe throughout longer careers.
This is increasingly important as the workforce ages.
Could technology help older construction workers stay in the industry?
Potentially.
Digital tools can reduce some administrative and physical burdens.
Technology is increasingly used for:
- Digital drawings
- Building information modelling
- Site monitoring
- Project documentation
- Scheduling
- Quantity measurement
- Progress reporting
- Remote communication
- Safety management
This does not eliminate the need for practical skills.
Instead, technology can complement experience.
An experienced worker who understands construction and can use modern digital tools may be particularly valuable because they combine practical knowledge with new technology.
CITB has also identified modern technology and improved productivity as part of the wider response needed to address the construction workforce challenge.
Why aren't enough young people choosing construction?
One major problem is perception.
CITB research has found that young people can have limited awareness of the breadth of construction careers, while outdated perceptions can associate construction primarily with manual labour and physically demanding trade work.
That creates a problem.
A young person may hear the word “construction” and imagine only:
- Labouring
- Bricklaying
- Digging
- Heavy physical work
They may not realise that the industry also employs:
- Architects
- Civil engineers
- Quantity surveyors
- Project managers
- Estimators
- BIM professionals
- Commercial managers
- Surveyors
- Sustainability specialists
- Digital construction professionals
If people do not know these careers exist, they cannot consider them.
Is construction still a good career for young people?
It can be.
Construction offers several characteristics that can make it attractive to people starting their careers.
These include:
- Practical work
- Apprenticeships
- Clear progression
- Professional qualifications
- Technical careers
- Management opportunities
- Specialist trades
- Infrastructure projects
- Digital careers
- Opportunities to become self-employed
CITB's research on career choices highlights that construction can offer meaningful work, progression pathways and a variety of roles, but awareness of these opportunities remains a challenge.
The industry therefore has an interesting marketing problem.
There may be strong career opportunities, but many potential workers do not understand what those opportunities actually look like.
Are apprenticeships helping solve the construction skills shortage?
They are an important part of the solution.
CITB reported that its New Entrant Support Team supported 5,913 apprenticeship starts during the 2025–26 financial year, representing a 43% increase from the previous year. It also engaged with more than 20,000 employers about apprenticeship recruitment requirements.
This shows that there is active investment in bringing new people into construction.
However, apprenticeships alone cannot solve the entire skills shortage.
The industry also needs:
- Better retention
- Mid-career training
- Retraining opportunities
- Career progression
- Improved workforce planning
- Better recruitment practices
- More flexible career pathways
Recruiting someone is only the beginning.
Keeping them in construction is equally important.
Why do some construction workers leave after gaining experience?
This is a particularly important question.
A worker may join construction as an apprentice, develop valuable skills and then leave several years later.
Why?
There is no single answer.
Potential reasons include:
Limited progression
Workers may feel that their career has reached a ceiling.
Working conditions
Long hours, travel and project-based work can become difficult over time.
Physical demands
Some trades can become harder to sustain throughout a long career.
Better opportunities elsewhere
Construction workers can transfer valuable skills to other industries.
Lack of flexibility
Workers may want more predictable working arrangements as their family responsibilities change.
Poor management
An individual's experience can depend heavily on their employer, site culture and immediate manager.
This is why the industry cannot solve the skills shortage simply by advertising more vacancies.
Retention is a workplace issue as much as a recruitment issue.
Does construction offer enough career progression?
It can, but employers need to make progression visible.
A person could potentially progress from:
Apprentice → Skilled Worker → Supervisor → Site Manager → Construction Manager
Or:
Trainee → Assistant Quantity Surveyor → Quantity Surveyor → Senior Quantity Surveyor → Commercial Manager
Or:
Graduate Engineer → Site Engineer → Project Engineer → Senior Engineer → Project Manager
These pathways demonstrate that construction can support long-term careers rather than simply short-term jobs.
However, workers need to understand what progression looks like and what training is required to achieve it.
Why is career progression important for retaining construction workers?
Imagine two employees.
The first is told:
“Keep doing your current job.”
The second is told:
“If you develop these skills, complete this qualification and demonstrate these responsibilities, you could progress to supervisor within two years.”
The second employee can see a future.
That sense of direction can make a difference.
Employers therefore have an opportunity to turn retention into a career-development strategy.
Training should not only be viewed as a way to fill today's skills gap.
It can also be a way to keep experienced workers inside the organisation.
Are construction employers investing enough in training?
There is progress, but the picture is mixed.
CITB's research has identified training activity as an area where construction has room for improvement. Its 2024/25 annual report noted that 53% of employers reported training their teams in the previous year, compared with 67% in 2018.
This matters because construction skills do not remain static.
Workers increasingly need to understand:
- Digital systems
- New materials
- Sustainability
- Safety requirements
- Building regulations
- Modern construction methods
- New equipment
If workers cannot develop their skills while employed, they may eventually become less competitive.
Continuous learning is therefore becoming more important.
Could better training reduce construction worker turnover?
It could.
Training can provide workers with:
- New skills
- Qualifications
- Greater responsibility
- Career progression
- Better earning potential
- Increased confidence
It can also help employers develop people internally instead of repeatedly recruiting externally.
CITB's 2026–27 Business Plan identifies supporting employers to train, develop and retain their workforce as one of its three core priorities.
That reflects a wider shift in thinking.
The solution to the skills shortage is not simply:
“Find more workers.”
It is also:
“Develop and retain the workers already here.”
Is construction becoming less attractive because workers have to travel?
Mobility has traditionally been an important part of construction.
Workers could travel to wherever major projects were being built.
But this is changing.
CITB's latest workforce mobility research found that workers are becoming less willing to travel long distances. In the previous 12 months, 34% of construction workers had worked no more than 20 miles from home, while only 10% had worked more than 100 miles away.
The proportion working more than 100 miles away has fallen substantially compared with 2015.
This creates a new recruitment challenge.
A company may have a shortage of workers in one region while suitable workers are available somewhere else — but those workers may not be willing to relocate or travel.
Why does local recruitment matter more now?
If construction workers increasingly prefer jobs closer to home, employers may need to strengthen local recruitment.
That could mean building relationships with:
- Local colleges
- Schools
- Training providers
- Apprenticeship programmes
- Local communities
- Employment services
It could also mean creating clearer local career pathways.
This approach may be particularly important for regional construction projects where employers need workers for several years rather than a short project period.
Could flexible working help retain construction professionals?
For some roles, yes.
Not every construction job can be performed remotely.
A bricklayer needs to be on site.
A plant operator needs to be on site.
But some professional roles may have greater flexibility.
Examples include:
- Quantity surveying
- Estimating
- Design
- BIM
- Project administration
- Commercial management
- Some engineering functions
Hybrid working may therefore help retain experienced professionals who might otherwise leave the industry.
It could also make construction careers more attractive to people who need greater flexibility.
Is construction becoming more technology-focused?
Yes.
Technology is changing how projects are designed, planned, managed and delivered.
Construction professionals increasingly encounter:
- BIM
- Digital project management
- Drones
- Site monitoring
- Data systems
- Digital surveying
- Automated equipment
- AI-assisted processes
This does not mean traditional construction skills are becoming irrelevant.
Quite the opposite.
The industry needs people who understand both the physical reality of construction and the digital systems increasingly used to manage it.
That combination could become a major career advantage.
Could AI help solve the construction skills shortage?
AI may help improve productivity, but it is unlikely to replace the need for a large construction workforce.
AI can potentially assist with:
- Document processing
- Scheduling
- Risk analysis
- Estimating support
- Design coordination
- Data analysis
- Project reporting
But buildings still need to be:
- Surveyed
- Constructed
- Installed
- Inspected
- Tested
- Maintained
AI may therefore change how construction workers work rather than eliminate the need for construction workers.
This distinction is important when considering the future of construction employment.
Is the construction skills shortage only about trades?
No.
Skills shortages can affect professional, technical and specialist occupations too.
Demand can exist for:
- Civil engineers
- Site managers
- Quantity surveyors
- Project managers
- Estimators
- Planners
- Skilled trades
- Plant operators
- Digital construction specialists
CITB's latest workforce outlook states that demand varies by region, type of work and occupation, which means shortages need to be considered at a much more detailed level than simply asking whether “construction” has enough workers.
Could infrastructure investment make the shortage worse?
Potentially.
Major infrastructure programmes can create additional demand for workers.
CITB currently forecasts the infrastructure sector to grow by 4.2% between 2025 and 2029, increasing the need for new entrants and stronger retention.
Infrastructure projects can require:
- Groundworkers
- Plant operatives
- Civil engineering operatives
- Steel fixers
- Formworkers
- Engineers
- Project managers
- Supervisors
If the workforce does not expand at the same pace as project demand, employers may compete for the same skilled workers.
That can increase pressure on recruitment, costs and project delivery.
Could the skills shortage delay construction projects?
Yes.
A shortage of appropriately skilled workers can affect the industry's capacity to deliver projects.
CITB's Industry Picture warns that if the gap between demand and workforce capacity continues to widen, housing and infrastructure projects could be delayed or cancelled. It also warns that scarce labour and skills can contribute to higher tender prices.
This is why the construction skills shortage is not only an employment issue.
It can become:
an economic issue,
a housing issue,
an infrastructure issue,
and ultimately
a productivity issue.
Can the UK reverse the construction skills shortage?
Yes, but there is unlikely to be one single solution.
A successful strategy would probably need several changes at the same time.
Attract more young people
Schools and colleges need better information about the full range of construction careers.
Improve apprenticeships
Training should connect more closely with actual employer demand.
Retain experienced workers
Employers need better progression, working conditions and flexibility.
Support mid-career workers
People should be able to retrain and move into new roles as their careers develop.
Improve productivity
Technology and better processes can help employers achieve more with existing resources.
Strengthen local recruitment
Regional skills planning can connect workers with nearby opportunities.
Improve the industry's image
Construction needs to communicate that it includes professional, technical, digital and management careers — not just manual labour.
CITB's current strategy reflects several of these priorities, including attracting new entrants, developing skills and supporting employers to train and retain their workforce.
What does the skills shortage mean for people looking for construction jobs?
For jobseekers, a skills shortage can create opportunity.
But simply entering construction is not enough.
Workers who continually develop their skills can potentially become more valuable to employers.
That could mean gaining:
- Industry qualifications
- Site experience
- Specialist trade skills
- Digital skills
- Management experience
- Safety credentials
- Commercial knowledge
The strongest candidates may increasingly be those who can combine practical competence with adaptability.
Could the construction skills shortage create better career opportunities?
Potentially.
When employers struggle to find appropriately skilled workers, people with relevant qualifications and experience can become more valuable.
This can create opportunities for:
- Career progression
- Specialist roles
- Supervisory positions
- Technical careers
- Management
- Apprenticeships
- Retraining
But workers should not assume that every construction role will automatically become highly paid simply because the industry has a shortage.
Demand varies by:
- Occupation
- Region
- Experience
- Qualifications
- Project type
- Economic conditions
The most useful approach is to identify which skills are scarce and where those skills are needed.
What should construction employers do to keep workers?
Retention needs to become part of workforce planning.
Employers can consider:
- Clear progression pathways
- Better training
- Mentoring
- Competitive pay
- Good site management
- Improved communication
- Flexible arrangements where possible
- Recognition of experience
- Safer working environments
- Better workforce planning
The objective should be to make construction a career people can remain in for decades.
That is particularly important when experienced workers are approaching retirement.
Why is retaining workers just as important as recruiting them?
Imagine an employer hires ten new workers but loses eight experienced workers during the same period.
On paper, recruitment has increased.
In reality, the workforce may not have expanded meaningfully.
This is the challenge facing the industry.
CITB's current analysis explicitly identifies both insufficient new entrants and workers leaving too soon as connected parts of the problem.
Therefore, the industry needs to stop treating recruitment and retention as separate issues.
They are two sides of the same workforce strategy.
What is the future of construction careers in the UK?
The future is likely to be shaped by a combination of high demand, changing skills and workforce replacement.
Construction will continue to need people to deliver:
- Homes
- Infrastructure
- Commercial buildings
- Industrial facilities
- Energy projects
- Refurbishment
- Retrofit
But the people delivering those projects may work differently from previous generations.
Future construction careers are likely to combine:
Trade skills + technical knowledge + digital capability + continuous learning.
The industry does not simply need more people.
It needs a workforce that can enter, develop, adapt and stay.
So, can the UK construction skills shortage actually be fixed?
The evidence suggests that it can be improved, but not through recruitment alone.
The UK needs more people entering construction, but it also needs to retain experienced workers, improve training, make careers more attractive and increase productivity.
CITB's latest workforce outlook estimates that an average of 41,200 additional workers will be needed each year from 2026 to 2030.
That is a significant workforce challenge.
But it is also a significant opportunity.
For people considering a construction career, the message is clear:
Construction is not running out of work. It is trying to build the workforce capable of delivering that work.
For employers, the challenge is equally clear:
The companies that can attract, train and retain skilled people will be better positioned to compete for future projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there a construction skills shortage in the UK?
The shortage is being driven by several factors, including an ageing workforce, too few new entrants, experienced workers leaving the industry, growing demand and insufficient productivity improvements.
How many construction workers will the UK need?
CITB's latest Construction Workforce Outlook estimates that an average of 41,200 additional workers will be needed each year between 2026 and 2030.
Are construction workers leaving the industry?
Yes. CITB identifies workers leaving the industry too soon as one of the key factors contributing to the UK's construction skills gap.
Is the UK construction workforce ageing?
Yes. CITB reports that the average age of the construction workforce is now over 42 and that more than a quarter of workers are over 55.
Are young people interested in construction careers?
There is interest, but CITB research shows that outdated perceptions, limited awareness of the full range of construction roles and inconsistent careers information can make it harder to attract new entrants.
Are apprenticeships increasing in construction?
CITB reported 5,913 apprenticeship starts supported by its New Entrant Support Team during the 2025–26 financial year, a 43% increase compared with the previous year.
Can technology help solve the construction skills shortage?
Technology can improve productivity and change how work is carried out, but it is unlikely to remove the need for skilled construction workers. Digital skills will increasingly complement traditional construction expertise.
Are construction workers travelling less for work?
Yes. CITB's latest workforce mobility research found that workers are increasingly less willing to travel long distances, with only 10% working more than 100 miles from home during the previous 12 months.
Is there a future for skilled construction workers?
Yes. CITB forecasts continued demand for additional construction workers through 2030, while shortages remain in several areas. Skilled workers with relevant qualifications, experience and adaptable skills can therefore remain important to the industry's future.
What can construction employers do to retain workers?
Employers can improve retention through clear career progression, relevant training, mentoring, good management, competitive conditions, flexibility where possible and opportunities for workers to develop throughout their careers.
