Self-employed plumbers earned an average of £976 a week in October – the equivalent of a £47,000 annual salary – according to the construction industry’s biggest payer of subcontractors.
Hudson Contract said earnings edged down by 2.5% but pay was comfortably above levels seen between April and June during the first lockdown.
Plumbing contractors in Wales saw the strongest growth last month, followed by their counterparts in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Ian Anfield, Managing Director of Hudson, said: “Our clients are telling us they have full order books and that demand for skilled trades continues to outstrip supply. Our clients say it will be business as usual up to Christmas in spite of the new lockdown.
“We welcome the extra clarity from ministers that construction workplaces should stay open during the next four weeks.
“They have confirmed that builders’ merchants and estate agents will continue to trade and tradespeople will be able to enter homes. There is plenty of work around. The Government has committed to a lot of infrastructure spending and new projects are being announced every day.
“Looking to next year, the end of free movement will cause disruption but countering that is reduced demand in January and February. Construction could struggle as stimulus packages like help to buy and the stamp duty holiday come to an end around March/April.”
Hudson Contract delivers the most accurate indication of subcontractor pay trends across the construction industry, using payroll data to publish the average pay for a spectrum of 17 different trades split across 10 regions in England and Wales. The family-owned group supplies statistics to the Bank of England to keep policymakers updated with real-time insights on demand for skilled labour.
