Proposals for young people to be able to work and move freely around Europe could have a positive spin-off for the construction industry.
The Construction Industry Training Board estimates the UK needs to attract an additional 250,000 workers to meet the government’s target of building 1.5m new homes by 2029.
National Federation of Builders, NFB, policy and market insight head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “The youth mobility scheme, or whatever it ends up being called, could help fill some gaps in the construction sector but it must ensure that skilled workers on the old shortage occupation list are not subject to the quota limits.”
Engineers, bricklayers, electricians, and joiners are in demand, and this is expected to spike in the near term, given that the average age of a construction worker in the UK is over 55.
Building consultant and project manager for the BBC’s DIY SOS Ian Hodgkinson hassaid just 7,000 bricklayers are trained a year, yet at least 95,000 are needed.
Although details of the youth experience scheme have not been worked out, the government said it would mirror existing schemes the UK has with countries like Australia and New Zealand. They have an annual quota of visas allowing people between 18 and 35 to work in each other’s countries for up to three years.
“Three years of access to someone you have trained does give flexibility to employers who could then choose to sponsor the young person,” said Mr Wojtulewicz.
Visas would be restricted to yearly quotas
These visas are subject to annual quotas;for example Australia has a 42,000 cap, with ballots held where they are oversubscribed.
Homesecretary Yvette Cooper is thought to be arguing for visas to be limited to one year so that EU citizens taking part do not appear in official immigration figures.
Brokers Hank Zarihs Associatessaid development finance lenders were keen for builders to have flexible access to skilled workers as shortages delayed projects, increased costs and affected quality.
The government’s white paper on controlling immigration, released last week, has caused concernsit will be difficult to recruit skilled foreign workers.
The paper proposes raising the qualification level for sponsorship from A-level equivalent to degree level, increasing the salary threshold and increasing the immigration skills charge by 32 per cent.
Office for National Statistics estimates that net migration was 728,000 in the year to June 2024, a 20 per cent drop from the 906,000 recorded for the year to June 2023.
LinkedIn Question: How useful would it be to have the freedom to recruit young people from across Europe?
