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 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: ‘ONS earnings data indicate that construction wage growth slowed significantly in the first two months of 2026. Pay growth in the sector continues to lag behind the wider economy and, on an annual basis, was notably lower than that seen across other sectors in February.

‘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, this pattern is expected to continue. Ongoing geopolitical uncertainty is dampening confidence and investment appetite, which will inevitably affect demand and could limit employers’ ability to raise wages.’

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 lowest annual increase 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.

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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 industry  - here}