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Construction Workforce Outlook

Labour Market Intelligence Report 2025–2029


This interactive tool provides insights into the UK construction economy and its future labour requirements. The tool gives forecasted trends and shows how the industry is expected to change year-on-year, allowing you to understand the current climate and plan for the future.

Output growth

The UK economy is showing signs of improvement from what was seen at the end of 2024. Construction output growth is forecast for all devolved nations and the nine English regions. Modest growth is expected in 2025 which will increase from 2026.

0.0%predicted output growth in2025
0.0%predicted output growth in2026
0.0%predicted output growth in2027
0.0%predicted output growth in2028
0.0%predicted output growth in2029

Output growth by sector

The major sectors for growth between 2025-29 are:

Infrastructure

0.0%

per year on average

Public new housing

0.0%

per year on average

Private new housing

0.0%

per year on average

Compare nations and English regions

Select the filters below to compare statistics for the nations and the English regions against the UK.

Output

In 2024, UK construction output totalled £215.7bn, with 44% from repair and maintenance, though this breakdown varies by nation and region.

Construction Industry Structure 2024

Annual average construction output growth 2025-2029

Construction output in the UK is forecast to grow by 1.6% in 2025, before picking up pace over the medium term, to an average of 2.1% per year through to 2029.

Workforce

We forecast that the UK construction workforce will grow to around 2.75 million by 2029.

Current and forecast total workforce figures 2024-2029

UK actual 2024:
2,649,220
UK forecast 2029:
2,752,790

Extra workers

The overall number of extra workers needed for the 2025–2029 period is estimated at 47,860 per year, which is equivalent to 1.8% of the 2024 workforce. This means the UK construction industry needs to recruit the equivalent of 239,300 extra workers over the next five years. Hover over the chart to find out how the percentage and number of extra workers differ for each occupational group.

Extra workers needed as a % of 2024 workforce

Download full reports

For more detailed information on the economic picture, output and output growth and the extra workers needed you can download the full UK report, and the Nations and English region plans below:

Construction Workforce Outlook | United Kingdom

Download the full UK forecast.

Construction Workforce Outlook | England

Construction Workforce Outlook | Scotland

Construction Workforce Outlook | Wales

Construction Workforce Outlook | Northern Ireland

Construction Workforce Outlook Explained

Provides an overview of the research methods the Construction Workforce Outlook and Oxford Economics use to produce the suite of reports at a UK, national and regional level.

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