Latest news: Construction jobs on the rise

The number of people employed in the UK construction sector has increased in the second quarter of 2012, new figures have shown. 17/08/2012

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , 34,000 more Britons entered the industry between April and June than in the previous three months.

This left the total number of people employed in construction at 1.29 million.

However, the figures are not all positive; year-on-year employment is down by 53,000.

Commenting on the news, Brian Green of Building.co.uk, stated, 'Overall employment in the second quarter of this year was 1.1% down on a year ago and is about 15% down on the same quarter five years ago, just before the credit crunch.'

Despite this, Mr Green explained there appears to have been a shift in the make-up of the people working in the construction sector, pointing to the fact the number of self-employed workers has remained steady over the past year.

There were only 1% fewer self-employed workers in the industry in the second quarter of this year compared to the second quarter of 2007, he noted.

Mr Green went on to state that this 'rapid shift towards […] self employment' is demonstrated further by the fact that the proportion of people working for themselves in the sector has increased by around 10% over the past 12 years, according to ONS data.