The construction industry will need more than 200,000 new workers over the next five years, new figures have revealed.

The Construction Industry Training Board's (CITB), Construction Skills Network Forecast predicts that 44,690 workers will need to be recruited annually.

The figures revealed that in 2013/14, only 8,030 apprentices completed construction apprenticeships. It is the fifth straight year that the number of construction apprentices has declined.


Steve Murphy, General Secretary of construction union UCATT, said: "These figures show that construction training is in crisis. Not only is there nothing like a sufficient number of apprentices being trained but the industry is unable or unwilling to introduce measures to begin closing the ever widening skills gap.

"What is needed to kick start apprentice training is strict procurement rules across the public sector which force employers bidding for these contracts to train apprentices. Companies that fail to train apprentices would be barred from bidding."

(CD/JP)