Average weekly earnings in the construction industry

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes monthly updates on average weekly earnings across the whole economy and by industry and sector in Great Britain. This commentary relates to ONS’s EARN02 and EARN03 datasets, which cover non-seasonally adjusted earnings, excluding bonuses and including arrears.

Note: ONS’s April update to earnings data included exceptional revisions dating back to October 2020, which have been reflected in our services and in the commentary below.

Strong earnings growth continues in construction sector

Construction wages, as measured by ONS’s Average Weekly Earnings dataset⁽¹⁾, increased by 6.1% in the year to February 2025. This was a decrease on the 6.7% rise seen in the 12 months to January 2025. On the month, earnings were up 0.4%.

Across the whole economy, the average increase in earnings in the year to February 2025 was 5.8%, the same as was seen in January.

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: ‘Wages data suggests that average weekly earnings in construction are returning to trend growth levels last seen prior to the pandemic at around the whole economy average.

‘Wage growth is still running at above-inflation levels, but is expected to stabilise over the coming months as the wider economic picture deteriorates.’

Annual growth in earnings was lower in construction than the whole economy average each month from April 2023 until November 2024. Construction earnings growth has been greater than the whole economy in the three months’ data since.

^{Source: ONS – Construction (K5AH) and Whole economy (KA5H), non-seasonally adjusted average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, including arrears}

Comparing pay at a sector level (with index K56S), construction workers saw the second highest annual increase in average earnings across all sectors. The greatest rise was a 9.0% increase in the wholesaling, retailing, hotels and restaurants sector.

^{Source: ONS – EARN02: Non-seasonally adjusted Average Weekly Earnings, excluding bonuses, including arrears, at sector level}

The ONS data shows that the construction sector has experienced the most extreme fluctuations in earnings movement in recent years, from a 9.5% annual decrease in May 2020 to a 13.5% increase in May 2021.

^{Source: ONS – EARN02: Non-seasonally adjusted Average Weekly Earnings, excluding bonuses, including arrears, at sector level}

BCIS produces five-year forecasts of the Average Weekly Earnings construction (K5AH) and whole economy (KA5H) time series for subscribers of BCIS OpX.

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^{(1) Office for National Statistics – Average weekly earnings in Great Britain: April 2025  - here}