The latest Civil Engineering Contractors Association’s Workload Trends Survey for the third  quarter of 2022 found that while contractors experienced an eighth quarter of successive growth in  workloads, 75% of firms reported issues with the supply of skilled operatives, and 63% with  the supply of other operatives.

CECA Chief Executive Alasdair Reisner said: “These statistics should act as a wake-up call not  just to industry, but to the UK and devolved national governments.

“In the short term we continue to call for a sensible approach to managed migration, so that the companies  can fill skills gaps needed to deliver the schemes British communities and businesses will rely upon in the  coming years.

“There has been a persistent skills gap in our industry for many years, but in the current economic climate  the discrepancy between the skills level of the workforce, and the pipeline of projects we plan to deliver,  has reached alarming proportions.

“It is the stated ambition of the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments to drive economic growth through  infrastructure delivery. But this ambition will only be achieved if the workforce is sufficiently skilled to  meet this challenge.

“As an industry we are working with government at all levels to ensure new entrants and the existing  workforce meet the correct skills requirements, and to put in place steps to attract more people into our  sector.”