Hudson Contract said that subcontractors also enjoyed record earnings in the East Midlands (拢1,070) and the Southwest (拢934). Across England and Wales as a whole, earnings increased by 0.9% in March to 拢959, matching the all-time high seen in December.
Hudson Contract describes itself as the UK鈥檚 largest provider of tax status and employment contract services to the construction industry with annual revenues approaching 拢1.8bn and a client base of 2,500 construction SMEs.
Managing director Ian Anfield said: 鈥淔or pay to reach these levels at this time of year when building sites are usually dogged by bad weather suggests this is going to be strong year for workload and earnings. While there are still huge issues around inflation, fuel and materials which can only be made worse by the war in Ukraine, the construction industry is still running at full capacity.
鈥淧eople have built up cash reserves for deposits on new homes and renovation projects, developers are creating new models for shared ownership schemes and the housing sector has not yet replenished the supply that was lost after the financial crisis in 2007.
鈥淭here is still huge pent-up demand for housing in the UK and there is still a shortage of skilled workers. Our clients are flat-out with full order books though as we saw in February, there are not quite as many tenders coming through the door.鈥�
Plumbers enjoyed the highest earnings of all trades at 拢1,139 per week. Subcontractors who specialise in demolition and wrecking saw the biggest monthly increase at 8.1% to 拢938 per week, followed by shop fitting (up 5.3% at 拢1,096) and steel/timber frames (up 3.9 % to 拢979).
| Region | March 2022 average | Month on Month % change | Year on Year % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 拢759 | 1.5% | -3.7% |
| Northwest | 拢908 | -0.2% | 0.8% |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 拢936 | 4.3% | 9.0% |
| East Midlands | 拢1,070 | 2.7% | 10.5% |
| West Midlands | 拢932 | -0.5% | 0.5% |
| Wales | 拢893 | -5.1% | 7.2% |
| East of England | 拢996 | 0.7% | -2.0% |
| London | 拢1,027 | 2.7% | 13.1% |
| Southeast | 拢1,005 | 1.0% | 3.6% |
| Southwest | 拢934 | 0.3% | 5.4% |
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