Freelance Builder Pay Trends: September 2016
3rd October 2016 | Hudson Contract
Hudson Contract delivers the most accurate indications of pay trends across the construction industry, using payroll data for over 2,200 construction companies to publish the average pay for a spectrum of 17 different trades now split across ten regions.
Welcome to our new – and even more informative – pay trends. The latest earnings data, available exclusively from Hudson Contract, is always one of the most popular items in our monthly newsletter. And now we’ve updated the way we display the figures, to make them even more helpful. As of this month, you can:
- Access 36 months of data on a single screen, to check out trends and seasonality quickly and easily
- Get the key numbers you need on a new interactive map
- View individual trades and regional trends at a glance, with just a couple of clicks
- Drill down into ten smaller regions – including London – to find out even more about what’s happening in your region and its neighbours
- Filter earnings both by trade and age groups
To view our interactive pay trends map click here
September earnings summary
Nine of the ten regions are down this month on August, with only the North-East bucking the downward trend with a rise of £3 a week. Having said that, if you look at 2016’s statistics since January, earnings have increased across the board.
Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield observes: “I think we might well be seeing a levelling off from the peaks and troughs caused by the referendum and its aftermath.”
National Weekly Average Earnings September 2016: £808
| Region | September 2016 Average | Change from August 2016 |
| North East | £698.00 | +0.44% |
| North West | £745.00 | -2.28% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £757.00 | -3.17% |
| East Midlands | £826.00 | -4.00% |
| West Midlands | £818.00 | -2.93% |
| Wales | £747.00 | -6.56% |
| East of England | £876.00 | -1.48% |
| London | £824.00 | -1.70% |
| South East | £820.00 | -1.59% |
| South West | £737.00 | -2.17% |
To view our interactive pay trends map click here
Hardest hit this month is Wales, where earnings plummeted 6.6% – or £49. September’s earnings of £747-a-week have nevertheless increased by almost £50 from the beginning of the year, which is well above inflation.
This month’s second key trend is the extension of the holiday season. With figures already published showing staycations are on the up – coinciding with the weakness of sterling against the euro and the dollar – it appears that freelancers who can avoid the school holidays have chosen to take time off during September, instead.
Meanwhile, the monthly survey of the Construction Purchasing Managers reports a very positive picture, beating expectations with a score of 52.3 in September and the fastest growth of new orders in six months, with big rises in housebuilding and civils and confidence at its highest since the referendum.
Ian Anfield comments: “Commercial construction activity has remained down for the past four months, its longest decline for more than three years. But following the party conferences in the past couple of weeks, there is lots of encouraging talk about boosting construction activity. A £5bn stimulus package for housebuilders, along with the goal of building 25,000 new homes in the next four years, has already been announced, and we look forward to hearing further details, hopefully in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, at the end of November.”
Government plan to boost housebuilding – details here
Hudson Contract’s ‘Window on the Construction Industry’ gives you hard figures and data that is not available from any other source, with pay averages that reflect the amounts paid by a sample number of businesses – large and small – to specific trades during September 2016.
