Employment and job demand
Employment trends for construction workers were similar to all craft and related trades workers in the past decade. Larger employment drops, such as the one during the Covid-19 pandemic, were compensated by faster recovery in the growth years.
Figure 1: Year-to-year employment change for construction workers (2013-2022)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Employed persons by detailed occupation (ISCO-08 two digit level) [LFSA_EGAI2D__custom_7778289]. Own calculations.
About half of construction workers are engaged as building frame and related trades workers. These are workers who construct, maintain, and repair buildings; erect and repair foundations, walls, and structures of brick, stone, and similar materials, shape or finish stone for building and other purposes; and perform miscellaneous construction and building maintenance tasks.
Around a third of construction workers are engaged as building finishers and related trades workers. People employed in these jobs cover, apply, or install, maintain, and repair roofs, floors, walls, insulation systems, glass in windows or other frames, as well as plumbing, piping, and electrical systems in buildings and other structures.
In total, more than a quarter of construction workers are engaged as painters or building structure cleaners and related trades workers who prepare surfaces and apply paint and similar materials to buildings and other structures, vehicles, or various manufactured articles. They cover interior walls and ceilings with wallpaper, and clean chimneys and exterior surfaces of buildings and other structures.
Over time the share of employment accounted for by these three occupations has changed a little, with the growing importance of building frame workers and building finishers, and a small decline in painters or cleaners group.
Figure 2: Employment in construction worker jobs (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Shares of detailed occupations on OJAs for construction workers are different from their employment shares, as building finishers are the most important group. This can be attributed to the fact that as more specialised workers, they could be more difficult to find on the job market. In addition, vacancies for building frame workers may be underrepresented in OJAs, as these workers have lower digital skills, thus less likely to search for jobs online.
For more details on skills demand and job openings for this occupation, please access the Cedefop’s Skills OVATE tool.
Figure 3: Online job advertisements for construction workers (2022, in %)
Source: Skills in Online Job Advertisements indicator based on Cedefop’s Skills OVATE. Own calculations. Note: Online job advertisements are by definition not equivalent to job vacancies. See Beręsewicz (2021) or Napierala et al. (2022).
The construction sector employs the majority of construction workers. In 2021, 77 per cent of construction workers were employed in the construction sector (see Figure 4). The manufacturing sector is the only other sector with a significant number of construction workers, accounting for 11 per cent of their employment in 2021. The remaining 11 per cent of construction worker employment is distributed across various sectors.
Figure 4: The top sectors employing construction workers (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
The share of employment in each country varies from over 5 per cent in countries like Poland or Romania, to less than 3 per cent in countries like Germany, Netherlands or Ireland (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Construction workers as a share of overall country employment (2021, in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations. Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV and LU have lower reliability because of the small sample size. LFS data for MT are not available.
The workforce is comprised mainly of men. In 2021, just over 2 per cent of construction workers were women compared with 46 per cent in the economy as a whole.
Construction workers are relatively aged compared with the average across all occupations, but not markedly so (Figure 6). In 2021, 32 per cent of construction workers were aged 50 to 64 years compared with 28 per cent across all occupations. A positive trend is that the share of young people (under 25) is not declining like it is the case in most other occupations.
Figure 6: Construction workforce by age (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
The nature of construction work is sometimes task or project-related. When a construction project is completed, construction workers often need to find alternative employment. To some extent, this is reflected in the percentage of workers employed on temporary contracts which was slightly higher than the average across all occupations (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: Contract and hiring trends for construction workers (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Skill needs and future trends
Construction workers use hand tools and often lift and carry heavy loads. They are also exposed to hazardous environments much more than other occupations. They are also less exposed to digital environments and perceive low need for digital upskilling. However, overall training needs are relatively high, and many construction workers may face challenges and getting access to necessary training.
Figure 8: Skills, training needs, and job perception of construction workers (in %)
Source: European Skills and Jobs Survey. Microdata. Own calculations. Unless stated otherwise, it is a share of people reporting that a task/skill is part of their job. *Always or often ** Share of workers reporting these needs to a great or moderate extent.
Cedefop’s Skills forecast provides a detailed view of the future demand for construction workers. Overall, employment for construction workers is expected to increase slightly (by about 1 per cent) over the period 2022 to 2035. This will more or less make up for the loss of employment during the pandemic when employment fell between 2019 and 2021.
Future employment growth will vary by country. Figure 9 compares the employment growth experienced over the relatively recent past to that projected to take place in the future. Employment in nine countries grew in the past decade and it is forecast to do so in the next decade as well. Ireland or Romania are among those with the highest past and expected future growths, while especially Greece or Portugal represent the opposite trend.
Figure 9: Past and expected future employment trend of construction workers
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Cedefop Skills Forecast. Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV and LU have lower reliability because of the small sample size. LFS data for MT are not available.
New job creation is, however, not the main driver behind job demand. Most job openings are a result of people leaving them for other opportunities, or those leaving the labour market completely (retirements; parent leave and such). This replacement demand is much more substantial, and in the case of the construction workers it exceeds the new job creation 47 times, as it is estimated at 4.1 million (Figure 10). Meeting this future requirement may be challenging given the level of labour shortages currently reported for construction workers (see below).
Overall, when expansion demand is added to replacement demand, an estimated 4.2 million job openings for construction workers will need to be filled between 2022 and 2035.
Figure 10: Future job openings for construction workers (000s)
Source: Future job openings indicator based on the Cedefop Skills Forecast. Own calculations.
More than 60 per cent of construction workers held medium-level qualifications in 2021 (i.e. at ISCED levels 3 or 4). This is not projected to change much by 2035. The share of workers with low levels of qualification (ISCED level 2 or lower) is projected to fall by 10 percentage points while the share of highly qualified workers (i.e. those qualified at ISCED level 5 and over) is projected to increase by 7 percentage points.