Nine out of 10 construction firms struggle to find staff
Nine out of 10 firms in the construction industry find it "problematic" to recruit staff, according to a survey of 233 companies carried out by construction association Embuild. Nearly seven out of 10 firms are currently looking for one or more new employees.
Belgium's construction and installation sector has 16,224 vacancies, according to Embuild. At 6.83 per cent, construction has the highest vacancy rate - the number of vacancies in relation to the total number of jobs in the sector - of any sector in the country.
Companies often find few or no candidates to fill their vacancies. These labour shortages often lead to delays, with one in five firms postponing the start of construction sites and one in seven being forced to limit the number of bids they accept.
"In other words, the tight labour market is causing construction work to be carried out later or not at all, which reduces turnover," said Niko Demeester, managing director of Embuild, in a press release.
The association is working on the image of the sector by promoting it at music festivals, on social media and in video games such as Minecraft.
"Even those with no experience at all are welcome," Demeester says. "The construction industry trains people. All we ask for is the necessary motivation and work ethic." He adds that the sector is no longer just about bricks and concrete: "Artificial intelligence, drones, virtual reality and 3D printing are now ubiquitous."
The reintroduction of a six-month trial period should have a positive impact on the sector, says Embuild, by allowing more people to try out whether a career in construction is for them. The association also advocates for the retention of unemployment benefits for people training for bottleneck jobs, which the federal government wants to limit to two years.
© BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS
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