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Published: 17/09/2025
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 2025 update to earnings data included exceptional revisions dating back to October 2020, which have been reflected in our service and in the data below.
Construction earnings growth still trails the wider economy
Construction wages, as measured by ONS’s Average Weekly Earnings dataset(1), increased by 3.5% in the year to July 2025. This was a decrease on the 4.1% rise seen in the 12 months to June 2025. On the month, earnings were up by 0.1%.
Across the whole economy, the average increase in earnings in the year to July 2025 was 4.7%, down from 4.8% in June.
Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: ‘Wage growth in construction continues to fall at a steady pace. While it’s natural for pay to fluctuate, the ongoing decline points to a cooling in the jobs market. This is supported by new vacancies data from the ONS, that show job vacancies in construction between June and August 2025 were down by 25% on the same period last year.
‘However, with inflation persisting, pressure for wage increases could spike in the months to come, assuming that demand levels pick up at some point.’
Annual growth in earnings was lower in construction than the whole economy average for the third consecutive month in July 2025.
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 lowest annual increase in average earnings across all sectors.
The greatest annual wage growth was recorded in the public sector and the wholesaling, retailing, hotels and restaurants sector. Pay increased by 5.7% in both.
Source: ONS – EARN02: Non-seasonally adjusted Average Weekly Earnings, excluding bonuses, including arrears, at sector level
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: 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: September 2025 - here
