Member Article

White van women outnumber Polish tradespeople 3 to 1, as numbers of migrant workers fall

The number of migrants working as builders and tradespeople in the UK has almost halved in the last four years, according to a new study into the make-up of the UK’s trades.

The study of 10,000 tradespeople by IronmongeryDirect shows that numbers have fallen to such an extent that, there are now more women tradespeople in the UK than those who are migrants. In fact ‘White Van Women’ are now nearly three times as common as Polish tradespeople.

In 2010 the Health and Safety Executive reported that 8% of tradespeople were migrant workers, however the new research by IronmongeryDirect shows that this has fallen to 4.6%.

The most common migrant workers are Polish (2%), followed by Irish (1%). The remainder consist of a wide range of nationalities including Brazillian, New Zealanders, Romanian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian and German.

In contrast, women now represent 5.7% of working tradespeople, higher than the total numbers of migrant workers and almost 3 times higher than the biggest non-British nationality, the Poles.

Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “Despite the UK moving out of the recession and the economy showing signs of growth, the UK appears less of an attractive prospect for migrant workers looking to find work, with numbers falling dramatically.

“Our research suggests that recovery is well underway, with many tradespeople reporting that businesses is good in the current climate.

“It’s also interesting to see that women now represent a significant, if still small, proportion of the sector. The emergence of White Van Women could be a major trend as the economy continues to grow.

“Certainly good tradespeople are highly prized and an influx of women into the trades would help meet growing demand, for example in the housing sector, as well as providing a great career for women looking to grow their own businesses.”

For more information, please visit http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/

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