The recent debacle over access to information via the internet, whether fake or otherwise, has shown that people’s online activity is highly revealing. Hence the results of a recent survey of job search patterns in Romania caught my eye. According to the poll, there has been a dramatic reduction in Google searches for construction sector vacancies in the UK, from workers across Poland, Romania and Bulgaria in 2017. For economists as well as contractors this should start ringing alarm bells.

What internet activity occupies the waking hours of a roofer from Romania or a plasterer from Poland is important given that workers from these regions make up a large number of those employed in the UK’s housebuilding industry. A survey last year by the Home Builders Federation revealed that 17.7% of the UK’s construction workforce are from the EU, with more than half of those coming from Romania. In London that percentage is much greater than elsewhere.

This is relevant to the current debate about the housing shortage in the UK. The Federation of Master Builders’ recent State of Trade survey for Q4 2017 showed that small construction firms, for instance, are experiencing record high skills shortages. More than two-thirds of small building firms are struggling to hire bricklayers and 63% are having difficulties finding carpenters and joiners. Ironic considering so many SMEs in construction were reported as voting for Brexit.

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