BSRIA says it is concerned, but not surprised, by the findings of the UKCES (UK Commission for Employment and Skills) Employer Skills Survey (ESS) 2015: UK Results.

The research found that employers are struggling to fill one in three construction vacancies (an increase from one in four in 2013) because they “can’t find people with the right skills”.

Published last month, the report highlights that the area of “real concern” is skills shortages faced by the construction sector – which contributes almost £90bn to the UK economy – over a million jobs and is strategically important in its contribution to housing, infrastructure and initiatives to stimulate UK growth. Skills shortage vacancies affect the bottom line.

The increase in the number of skills shortage vacancies since 2013 presents cause for concern, when construction sector employers were the most likely to cite a loss of business or orders to competitors resulting from skills shortage vacancies.

According to the report, skills shortage vacancies were caused by a number of people and personal skills and technical and practical skills lacking among applicants. Skills related to operational aspects of the role, as well as complex analytical skills, were the main technical and practical skills lacking.

BSRIA chief executive, Julia Evans, said: “BSRIA acknowledges that the construction industry is facing heightened difficulties in recruiting staff with this worrying statistics. The Employer Skills Survey is a vital source of data on skills and the labour market. At a micro-level, these factors may be damaging for the business; at a macro-level, they could be damaging for the UK economy and hamper the sustainability of UK economic growth.”