The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) is the leading provider of cost and carbon data to the UK built environment. Over 4,000 subscribing consultants, clients and contractors use BCIS products to control costs, manage budgets, mitigate risk and improve project performance.
Published: 22/04/2026
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.
Construction wage growth continues to trail other sectors
Construction wages, as measured by index K5AH in the ONS’s Average Weekly Earnings dataset(1), decreased by 0.8% in the year to February 2026. This was a greater fall than the 0.1% decrease seen in the 12 months to January 2026. On the month, there was a 0.2% increase in the construction industry’s average weekly earnings.
Across the whole economy, the average increase in earnings in the year to February 2026 was 3.2%, down from 3.5% in the year to January 2026, according to index KA5H(2).
Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: ‘From February 2025 to February 2026, average weekly earnings in construction decreased by 0.8% although they increased slightly by 0.2% between January and February 2026. Overall, construction earnings are not growing at the rate we’re seeing in other sectors, or the wider economy average.
‘This trend likely reflects subdued demand conditions, particularly in areas such as new public housing, private commercial and private industrial work, all of which recorded declines in output both month-on-month and year-on-year in February.
‘Looking ahead, construction wages are expected to continue lagging. Persistent geopolitical uncertainty is weighing on confidence and investment appetite, which is likely to dampen demand and constrain employers’ capacity to increase pay.’
Annual growth in earnings in construction was lower than the whole economy average for the tenth consecutive month in February 2026.
Source: ONS – EARN02: Average weekly earnings by sector, Table 7, and EARN03: Average weekly earnings by industry, Table 4
Comparing pay at a sector level (with index K56S), construction workers saw the only annual decrease in average weekly earnings across all sectors.
The greatest annual wage growth was recorded in the public sector with a 5.0% rise.
Source: ONS – EARN02: Average weekly earnings by sector, Table 7
The ONS data show 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 13.4% increase year-on-year in May 2021.
Source: ONS – EARN02: Average weekly earnings by sector, Table 7
BCIS produces five-year forecasts of the Average Weekly Earnings construction (K5AH) and whole economy (KA5H) time series for subscribers of BCIS OpX.
To keep up to date with the latest industry news and insights from BCIS, register for our newsletter here.
