{"id":154711,"date":"2025-09-02T09:24:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=154711"},"modified":"2025-09-02T09:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:24:23","slug":"good-news-smes-state-of-trade-h1-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/hr-skills-news\/good-news-smes-state-of-trade-h1-2025\/154711\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for SMEs in State of Trade H1 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

New data suggests stronger signs of recovery for the construction industry in the first half of the year, with SMEs seeing rises in workloads, employment, and more<\/h2>\n

The State of Trade H1 2025 report, by both CIOB<\/a> and the Federation of Master Builders,<\/a> shows that the skills shortage is still a major issue in the construction industry, with the most difficult-to-hire trades including carpenters, roofers, plumbers\/HVAC, general labourers, and bricklayers.<\/p>\n

Further issues include a 75% rise in materials costs and a 67% rise in wages and salaries, impacting growth. Despite this, conditions in the sector are improving.<\/p>\n

Growth is present, but not as large as it could be<\/h3>\n

Apart from those already mentioned, one of the largest issues holding businesses back is the continued fragile position they find themselves in is the rising costs and wages causing difficulties in tackling the skills crisis, as there is little money left over for hiring new labour.<\/p>\n

49% of businesses surveyed in the State of Trade H1 2025 report lower-than-expected profits, or even losses, while 25% feared for their business viability. As a result, 34% have said they are already restricting their recruitment process, while 22% have already made redundancies.<\/p>\n

On a more positive note, workloads are increasing, seeing a net increase of 25%, following a -11% in Q4 2024. Furthermore, net enquiries (which suggest current interest levels for new business) is also up by 34% after a -23% in Q4 2024.<\/p>\n

There are also numbers suggesting that the difficulty in hiring new staff is loosening its grip, as net employment change hit +26%, the strongest improvement in a quarter since Q1 2010. 39% of firms have seen their workforce size increase, up from 17% in Q4 2024, while only 13% of firms reported a decrease in staff numbers.<\/p>\n

Tackling the skills crisis<\/h3>\n

Several measures have been taken over this year to try to handle the skills gap, with several reforms made in May, including:<\/a><\/p>\n