Managing Director's Overview 2022
What’s the forecast for 2023?
In all my years working in recruitment within the built environment sector, I’ve not seen so much change, and in particular the pace of change. Throughout 2022, we’ve experienced a very positive year even amongst political and economic instability. Our teams work at the coalface of the market where downturns and spikes are acutely felt, so we are often the very first to see market trends.
At Archer, we’ve seen a resilient market this year with demand continuing to outstrip supply resulting in a record year for the business.
Our client base, some of the leading construction and engineering businesses have been very active with new projects and experienced high demand for project resources. 2022 has without a doubt been a candidate led market, with a distinct shortage of talent across all disciplines including project management, cost management, building surveying and engineering. It’s a remarkable time for candidates making a move into new jobs, with 10-20% salary increases common place. Potential employers facing a candidate short market are offering sign-on bonuses, guaranteed annual bonuses and quite commonly having to navigate complex negotiations with counter offers from their current employers being the norm.
The shift in the market forecast from summer 2022 to now has been swift, with the challenges of supply chain, logistics and material costs continuing, in addition to significant challenges to the movement of labour compounded by Brexit.
The construction sector contributes 9% to the overall UK economy and creates jobs for over 3 million people. Intelligence for Glenigan speculates a fall of 2 per cent in projects starting in 2023, with infrastructure and public sector funded projects remaining buoyant and less affected by the market turbulence.
Despite this, we are optimistic about the year ahead in 2023. Key infrastructure and services are needed to drive growth and help support the economy and large mixed use and commercial schemes are still being awarded.
If our current pipeline is any indication, I believe the built environment sector in our key geographies will remain strong and we will see a positive 12-months ahead. We’re looking forward to a journey of growth in 2023 that will help support our clients’ increased recruitment needs and providing our candidate network with career defining opportunities.
Wishing you a well-deserved holiday season and a happy and prosperous new year ahead!
David Cox – MD
Find out more about what’s going on in the market in our annual 2022 Salary Guide & Market Report. Download your copy by clicking on the links below.
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