North West to lead the way for construction jobs

Close to 22,500 new jobs in the North West construction sector will be created between now and 2020, according to new figures.

Data compiled by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has shown that the next five years will see construction employment in the region grow by 1.6% per year, ahead of the 1.1% rate for the rest of the UK.

Further, the sector’s total output in the North West is set to hit an annual growth rate of 2.6%, according to the CITB’s latest Construction Skills Network report, ahead of the 2.5% UK average.

Steve Housden, the CITB’s North West sector strategy manager, said: “We can’t build the Britain we want without apprenticeships and the careers they lead to.

“That’s why we want these new statistics, showing solid, sustained growth, to inspire more people across the North West to start apprenticeships and more construction firms to take them on.”

He added: “We also want to attract workers who have left the industry to return, and upskill those in it, so we can deliver major projects and new housing faster and better.”

Major ongoing developments in the region include the overhaul of Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium and the £290m project to construct a 10km dual carriageway linking Manchester Airport with the nuclear power station at Moorside, Cumbria.

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