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. 

Construction wage growth in August points to slight recovery

Construction wages, as measured by index K5AH in the ONS’s Average Weekly Earnings dataset⁽¹⁾, increased by 2.0% in the year to August 2026, up from a 1.5% increase in the year to July.

On the month, there was a 0.4% increase in the construction industry’s average weekly earnings.

Across the whole economy, the average increase in earnings in the year to August 2026 was 2.4%, down slightly from the 3.7% increase seen in the year to July 2026, according to index KA5H⁽²⁾.

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: ‘Annual wage growth in construction is showing signs of recovery after slowing for much of the year. However, at 2.0% in August, it remained below the whole economy average for the sixteenth consecutive month and below the rate of consumer price inflation.

‘We’ll be monitoring trends closely in the months following the Budget to assess the impact of the Chancellor’s decisions and their implications for construction industry wage growth.’

^{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 (using index K56S), construction saw the third lowest rise in annual pay growth in the year to August 2026.

The greatest annual wage growth was recorded in the finance and business services sector with a 3.7% 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 13.5% 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.

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^{(1) Office for National Statistics – EARN03: Average weekly earnings by industry  - here}

^{(2) Office for National Statistics – EARN02: Average weekly earnings by sector  - here}