The UK construction workforce (not seasonally adjusted) shrank by more than 300,000 workers between 2005 and 2025, new employment data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests.
Across 2025, an average of 2,070,035 people were estimated to be working in construction – a 0.9% decrease on the 2024 average and a 13.0% fall compared with the 2,379,276 workers active in 2005.
Dr David Crosthwaite, Chief Economist at the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), said: “The latest figures reinforce the capacity constraints that construction businesses continue to report. A 13% contraction of the workforce over two decades is no coincidence – it’s the result of several economic and political shocks occurring in succession, coupled with a slow-growth economy, inflated costs and prices and difficulties attracting and retaining future generations of workers.”
The latest ONS data shows there were an estimated 2,045,781 people working in construction in Q4 of 2025 – a year-on-year fall of 3.9%. In the same quarter there were an estimated 1,297,331 employed workers and 748,450 self-employed workers in construction. Self-employed workers accounted for 37% of the overall workforce, the same proportion as has been the overall average level of self-employment in the sector since 1997.
Dr Crosthwaite added: “Construction has experienced the second largest decline in employed and self-employed workers of all sectors in the last two decades.
“Part of the problem with construction’s labour capacity is its deep ties to economic growth and investment sentiment. When confidence is low among clients and funders, decision-making and project starts are delayed, which influences longer-term employment decisions made by contractors and subcontractors. In other words, they’re less likely to invest in training and apprenticeships because future cash flow is uncertain.
“The broader risk is not having enough people to deliver work if demand increases at some point. This could result in higher tender prices.”