Skills shortage in construction .

[Evans Electric]

I know we've discussed this before .    Heard a discussion on radio today ,LBC    or R5  I think .... construction guy was saying very few youngsters entering the business , its deemed to be , dirty , messy, hard work, & poorly paid .   

He went on to say that it NOT poorly paid , partly because of the shortage of skilled labour  .    He quoted Brickies , Chippies , plasterers , painters   as being well paid  , didn't mention sparks, plumbers or heating engineers ,  but I'd say the last three were also not poorly paid in the great scheme of things.  

A carpenter I know well is virtually full time with one of the top of the market , local kitchen & bathroom fitting firms ,  and is  being paid a most excellent weekly figure .  

 

[binky]

From what I've seen construction doesn't want to pay proper rates, or employ through agencies who take the wee

 

[Murdoch]

I think the “hope” of being a top footballer or “media star” means lots of kids set their sights unrealistically high

and parents give them hand outs rather than encouraging working for money

the UK are reaping what they sowed ..

 

[Blue Duck]

I know we've discussed this before .    Heard a discussion on radio today ,LBC    or R5  I think .... construction guy was saying very few youngsters entering the business , its deemed to be , dirty , messy, hard work, & poorly paid .   

 

He went on to say that it NOT poorly paid , partly because of the shortage of skilled labour  .    He quoted Brickies , Chippies , plasterers , painters   as being well paid  , didn't mention sparks, plumbers or heating engineers ,  but I'd say the last three were also not poorly paid in the great scheme of things.  

A carpenter I know well is virtually full time with one of the top of the market , local kitchen & bathroom fitting firms ,  and is  being paid a most excellent weekly figure .  

I can confirm, that is the truth....

How some of the older guys do it I don't know! 

There are plenty of youngsters just not English ones, they're all to busy setting their sights on university and being in huge amounts of debt for the rest of their lives with a degree in chocolate teapots.

As per government policy since the 90's.

 

[Evans Electric]

About eight years ago we were doing up an old cottage  by Lichfield  ...sitting there on site drinking tea , all the trades there when the painter says  " Anyone notice something on this job ?"    

Much shaking of heads .

" We Are all old pharts  here  , theres no one under 55 ,  some are pulling their pensions "  

 

[Tony S]

At the foundry our maintenance teams (fitters and electricians) were all on the down hill route to retirement. Potential new recruits would take one look at the s***y conditions and leg it.

 

[Doc Hudson]

The Dot.Com bubble and all of its associated internet related myths, plus all of the 'reality TV' fiction have produced a mindset that anyone can become a millionaire doing ****** all except tapping a few keys or having 15 minutes of media exposure per week. Lets face it, who in their right mind would want to learn a proper trade and do some real work when you could have a cushy lifestyle from what used to be Video Games writers for SEGA consoles, or website designer for companies with no internet presence.  Then progressing to winning a TV talent show singing, or juggling dogs, or baking cakes, or living in a house full of cameras for 6 weeks, then being called a "Celebrity". Or if none of those work you would set up your own ebay shop selling all your unwanted Christmas presents, or start a Vblog on YouTube reviewing all the clothes you would never buy while getting everyone under the sun to give you a "like".  Or try winning a business Apprenticeship/Partnership with "Sir Alan Sugarplumfairy", If all those fail, and none of the Dragons in the den will give you "£25,000" to bail out all of your failed projects, at this point you will be mid 30's to early 40's so you will try a "Short course" to become what you should have done at 16 when you left school, Try to Learn a Trade!  Hence we have a Skills Shortage of English speaking nationals who can follow normal everyday plans, instructions and rules & regulations!

Doc H

 

[Sharpend]

The Dot.Com bubble and all of its associated internet related myths, plus all of the 'reality TV' fiction have produced a mindset that anyone can become a millionaire doing ****** all except tapping a few keys or having 15 minutes of media exposure per week. Lets face it, who in their right mind would want to learn a proper trade and do some real work when you could have a cushy lifestyle from what used to be Video Games writers for SEGA consoles, or website designer for companies with no internet presence.  Then progressing to winning a TV talent show singing, or juggling dogs, or baking cakes, or living in a house full of cameras for 6 weeks, then being called a "Celebrity". Or if none of those work you would set up your own ebay shop selling all your unwanted Christmas presents, or start a Vblog on YouTube reviewing all the clothes you would never buy while getting everyone under the sun to give you a "like".  Or try winning a business Apprenticeship/Partnership with "Sir Alan Sugarplumfairy", If all those fail, and none of the Dragons in the den will give you "£25,000" to bail out all of your failed projects, at this point you will be mid 30's to early 40's so you will try a "Short course" to become what you should have done at 16 when you left school, Try to Learn a Trade!  Hence we have a Skills Shortage of English speaking nationals who can follow normal everyday plans, instructions and rules & regulations!

Doc H

Well that sums up 90% of the under 30’s, it’s just a good job the rest of us pay income tax or the government will be the next lot to go bankrupt!! Or to the den as tv exposure doesn’t help them until after they’ve quit. 

 

[Murdoch]

As per government policy from 1997 tp 2010

corrected that for you

at least the Coalition of 2010 started talking about apprenticeships, the George Osbourne introduced the Apprenticeship Levy.......

 

[binky]

Osbourne and Camerron did more damge than Thatcher, but seem to have got away with it....life can be strange at times.

 

[Murdoch]

Osbourne and Camerron did more damge than Thatcher, but seem to have got away with it....life can be strange at times.

Not sure I agree with that.

My son has an apprenticeship now from a company that has never offered them before ....

 

[Tony S]

The company I served my time with stopped taking on apprentices for many years. It saved a few bob until they built a new plant. They took on 14 apprentices in the first year knowing that most of the existing maintenance staff were rapidly heading towards retirement age. The next problem will be a lack of mentors.

 

[binky]

Not sure I agree with that.

My son has an apprenticeship now from a company that has never offered them before ....

depends if you agree with the political motives fro slashing public spending - same polices as Thatcher but gone deeper and further than she ever managed. Osbourne used the banking crash to justify the cuts, and set the economy back so much debt increased by £1 trillion. The ongoing result is the slow collapse of public services such as the Police NHS, Social Services, Youth Services, Mental Health etc etc, so now crime is rising again, prisons are out of control, the NHS can't cope because of bed blocking be the elderly etc etc, and the cuts havn't finished yet.  In my opinion Osbourne destabilised the economy so much that instead of the National debt falling , it rose significantly and we can barely pay the interest. This has also lead to cutting apprenticeship funding. More cuts to come don't forget, it isn't 2020 yet.

 

[Murdoch]

 In my opinion Osbourne destabilised the economy so much that instead of the National debt falling , it rose significantly and we can barely pay the interest. This has also lead to cutting apprenticeship funding. More cuts to come don't forget, it isn't 2020 yet.

So if in 2010 Labour had won the election they would have carried on spending £165 billion more than the UK was "earning" .................. so the rise in the national debt would have been even steeper and the interest payments even bigger ......................

 

[Sidewinder]

The company I served my time with stopped taking on apprentices for many years. It saved a few bob until they built a new plant. They took on 14 apprentices in the first year knowing that most of the existing maintenance staff were rapidly heading towards retirement age. The next problem will be a lack of mentors.

Nah Tony the 5ww will be there to train them in Pyro, PLC, arc welding cast iron, fabricating trunking bends etc. there simply is nothing to it remember 

There are jobs now being offered for fully qualified self employed sparks that are at minimum wage and no more, so you would be self employed but only able to charge minimum wage as your rate!

 

[Tony S]

Seriously SW how do you see things going?

Where are we going to get properly trained industrial electrical technicians?

 

[binky]

So if in 2010 Labour had won the election they would have carried on spending £165 billion more than the UK was "earning" .................. so the rise in the national debt would have been even steeper and the interest payments even bigger ......................

Nothing to do with Labour.  What I am saying is thst Osbourne, in persuit of politcal aims, made a bad situation worse with his fiscal policies. I reckon the economy would have bounced back despite the banks, until Osboune stuck his big oar in. What was it he said '5 years of pain to pay off the debt' - s'funny how the debt got bigger and bigger rapidly - his policy has failed. The only thing that has salvaged the economy is the devaluation of  £ Sterling. Rees Mog was claiming this morning that any growth of the UK economy is proof Brexit is a good thing - utter balderdash. Other nations have been growig at 4-5%, we managed 0.5% last year. 

this is an intresting set of numbers - no idea if these guys are biased, but seems quite fair to me, pay attention to the lower charts.

https://fullfact.org/economy/labour-and-conservative-records-national-debt/

Seriously SW how do you see things going?

Where are we going to get properly trained industrial electrical technicians?

Poland  msl1:

 

[Murdoch]

Other nations have been growing at 4-5%, we managed 0.5% last year. 

Best you list them 

I’ll start

china

india

 

[Murdoch]

This is an interesting list ...

https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/countries-highest-gdp-growth-2017

 

[Rob.]

Seriously SW how do you see things going?

Where are we going to get properly trained industrial electrical technicians?

As selfish as it is, It means I'm able to charge  a lot more than normal, an I'll retire sooner because of it.

Although sitting on my ass isn't in me either, so I'll likely go into some form of teaching.