The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) report, titled The Real Face of Construction, showed 57% of respondents perceived average annual earnings to be lower than the true figure of £36,000.

CIOB chief executive Caroline Gumble said: “Our survey shows there are big misconceptions around earning potential, job prospects and working conditions.”

In fact, construction is £3,000 above the average annual salary across all sectors at £33,000.

The survey shows while earnings across all sectors rose by 15% between 2012 and 2022, the rise for full-time construction workers was 24%.

“Overly physical” and “dangerous” were among the top three answers respondents selected when asked to describe construction jobs despite more positions being office or site-based.

Ms Gumble added: “This is something the sector needs to work together to address if we’re to bridge the existing worker shortfall that will over time become bigger if nothing is done.”

The study showed the sector was often overlooked by individuals exploring job options or changing their career path. Just 7% of respondents said they would recommend construction as a career to their children or other young people.

Londoners are most likely to recommend construction careers (38%) while those in Wales (20%) are least likely.

“Without construction workers, including those in IT, planning, administration and management, as well as the frontline trades, there can be no new homes or other infrastructure and our economy will grind to a halt,” said Ms Gumble.

Construction is the fourth largest employer in the UK outside of the public sector with 2.1m working in the industry and accounting for six per cent of gross value added to the economy.

The south east has the biggest number of construction workers, 381,000, while the east of England has the largest percentage of its total workforce engaged in the sector at 7.9 per cent.

According to the report, Scotland’s geography has been more heavily weighted to infrastructure than elsewhere in Britain. Its construction output is estimated to be above
£13.3 billion in 2022, representing about 7.8% of the GB total.

The nation accounts for 8.4% of the population. So, on a per capita basis, its share of construction is slightly below the average for Great Britain. But given its relatively slow population growth for decades, this is understandable. Furthermore, the population projections suggest Scotland will see the slowest growth in numbers of any part of the UK.

For many decades, Scotland’s construction activity, and to some degree its economy, has pivoted on the price of oil. So, the economic position relative to the rest of the UK and the fall in construction in the five years ahead of the pandemic should come as little surprise. This fits with the slump in oil prices. Slow population growth also reduces the drivers of construction. However, the surge in oil prices and growth in offshore wind energy should provide a fillip.

The construction workforce in Scotland is broadly balanced between those who live in the nation and those that work in it. But Scotland’s construction industry does rely on a relatively high share of workers born outside the UK. At 9%, the non-UK born contingent in Scotland is above the UK average and higher than what is seen across northern England.

Within the overall construction mix, the share of housing rose from 18% to above 22% in the period 2017 to 2022, while infrastructure expanded its share from 21% to 23%. RMI work across all sectors saw a rise in the share of overall construction work.

Over the past two years, Scotland saw the biggest fall in construction new orders in Great Britain, broadly following a path of decline since 2015. Housing and commercial work saw the worst of the decline. Industrial fared best of the major sectors, but it accounts for less than 4% of work. Within the housing sector, public housing did see some growth, but again this is a small sector accounting for less than 4% of output.

The latest CITB’s Construction Skills Network (CSN) forecast, released in January 2023, sees Scotland experiencing a deeper than UK average fall in workloads in 2023. And the 1% fall in workloads in 2023, is expected to be followed by modest, but rising, growth rates lifting from 1.1% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2027. Sluggish growth is expected across all sectors over the period, with industrial the strongest performer, although its growth rate is penned as being below the UK average.

The CSN forecast estimates that the Scottish construction workforce will fall by about 900 between 2022 and 2027. That is about 0.4% of the estimated 2022 workforce of 231,000. However, to cover for churn in the workforce, it suggests substantial recruitment will still have to take place. The number it thinks is required annually is 3,910 people.

Median earnings for full-time male construction employees in Scotland were £34,500, about 7% below the UK average. Scotland is the only part of Great Britain where, on this measure, construction workers earn less than the average across all industry sectors. Pay increases over the past ten years ago have broadly tracked the average across all economic sectors in the nation.