The Big Issue – August 20, 2018

Here’s how to do itHere’s how to do it

If Britain’s housing crisis is going to be solved the first port of

call is to build skills before building homes.

The government has pledged to construct 300,000 homes every

year by the uncertain post-Brexit world of the mid-2020s. Housing

experts are keen to see the right type of homes built to tackle the

housing crisis – the Joseph Rowntree Foundation is calling for 80,000

afordable homes every year, for example.

That’s a lot of plugs that will need wiring.

And the latest ONS figures on the migrant labour force within the

construction industry, released in June, suggest there could be a skill

gap that will require filling.

The issue is that the construction workforce is ageing.

There has been a 13 per cent increase in the number of workers

aged over 45 in the last two decades and almost half of the workers

in that age bracket, 47 per cent, are UK nationals – similar to the

country’s average.

As for the non-UK nationals? Just 18 per cent. Between 25 and

34 years of age it is the other way around with 42 per cent of workers

from outside the UK as opposed to 22 per cent originating from these

shores.

With a third of the resident non-UK nationals working in general

labour roles, it is clear where Brexit could hit hardest: demolishing a

huge part of the workers on the bottom rung of the ladder.

Of the 2.2 million people working in the construction industry

between 2014 and 2016, seven per cent of the workforce were

nationals (165,000) from EU member states while three per cent were

from countries outside the EU (49,000).

This is not unusual when compared to other industries – where six

per cent are from the EU and four per cent are non-EU.

However, London has seen a particular influx of EU workers

with 28 per cent of building site employees from the continent –

significantly higher than the 13 per cent across all industries.

These figures have been rising over the 20 years between 1991

and 2011 with 17 per cent more European workers, largely down to

expansion of the EU in 2004 and 2007 and increasing availability of

skilled trades.

The question is: when the builders, joiners and plumbers of

Europe are lost, will the millennials who are so widely mocked for their

inability to wire a plug be able to fill the void they leave? Or will the

construction industry lose its foundations?

Words: Liam Geraghty @Lazergun_Nun

Time to build up skills

Earth

Neutral

LIVE

FUSE

Cable grip

Outer insulation

Step 3:

Loosen the three

tightening screws on top

of each pin. This will

expose a hole. Place the

correct wire in the hole and

tighten the screw. Replace

the back of the plug.

Step 1:

Remove the back of the

plug. Strip the end of the

cable coming from the

appliance into the plug,

using wire strippers, taking

of 3cm of white covering,

leaving three thinner cables.

Step 2:

Strip 0.5 to 1cm of the

three inner cables so the

copper wires are visible

and put all through the

cable grip along with

the white cable before

tightening the cable grip.

The Big Issue has

become a microcosm of
Britain’s intergenerational

low-level skills schism. On
the one side you’ll find

the, "Of course I can wire

a plug – who can’t wire a
plug?!" On the other not

just, "I can’t wire a plug"
but, "Why would I need

to?" Rather than allow
this to fester and descend

to the, "No I don’t own a
spirit level and why would

I put up shelves anyway
you schmuck" level, we,

without comment, detail

how to wire a plug.

Disclaimer: The Big Issue accepts no responsibility for any DIY mishaps