The survey of Swedish graduates also ranked the contractor above Ikea and Volvo for newly qualified engineers looking for work.

The news is being hailed by industry leaders in the UK as a perfect example of how construction can attract the brightest talent.

Encouraging youngsters to consider a career in contruction was one of the main thrusts of the Construction 2025 industrial strategy launch this week.

Skanska UK chief executive Mike Putnam highlighted the Swedish research at the launch.

He said: “We do have to do much more with the image of construction. We need to explain what the opportunities are in a joined up way.

“I’m on the board of our construction business in Sweden and it has just been voted the number one employer – beating Google into number two.

“Why is that? Because the image is much better, and we have a very strong focus on values, green issues, diversity and ethics.

“These things are held very high and really lived up to. That really does attract people to our company because they like to work for an ethical company.”