Our PAYaward pay settlement database highlights higher pay review increases in the construction industry this year, compared to the ‘All sectors’ figures:
These Construction figures are similar to those seen in 2015 and 2014, although last year the most common review had dipped to two per cent, compared to three per cent in both 2014 and 2016. What hasn’t changed in the last three years is the percentage-point difference between Construction and All Sectors, which indicates the external pay market pressures faced by construction companies. Before 2014, Construction settlement figures were more in line with, and for a time half a per cent behind, the ‘All sectors’ figures. Indeed, our ‘All sectors’ figures have changed little from above for the last five years.
Despite a one per cent difference between Construction and All Sectors, a three per cent median pay settlement still appears relatively restrained when compared to the huge pay pressures that construction companies have reported in the last three years – for example, £15,000 to £20,000 pay increases being offered to poach employees. The reality of the past three years is that a further 0.5-1% of payroll has been spent on out-of-cycle increases, to attract or retain the talent / skills required to service work won.
Obviously, pay freezes have been almost non-existent in the construction industry for the past three years and only 1.3 per cent of organisations have frozen pay in all sectors.
