The majority of young Britons are unable to correctly identify various professions within the construction industry according to a new study, with just 48% of those polled able to correctly describe a glazier’s role.
Along with glaziers, welders and dredgers were revealed as the construction roles which those polled had the most difficulty identifying.
Looking to uncover the levels of awareness of the construction industry amongst the general public, the team at www.constructaquote.com polled a total of 2,039 participants, aged from 18-35 years old. There was an even gender divide amongst respondents and, in order to collect a set of valid results, each individual taking part had never worked within the construction industry themselves.
Respondents were given a list of ten construction trades and asked to summarise in one or two simple sentences what each trade entailed. The trades, ranked in order of the amount of participants able to give a correct description, were as follows (bracket figure shows percentage of respondents who could correctly describe the trade):
1. Lorry/van driver – (99%)
2. Carpet layer- (96%)
3. Plumber- (93%)
4. Plasterer- (90%)
5. Electrician- (83%)
6. Labourer- (78%)
7. Mason- (61%)
8. Welder- (51%)
9. Glazier- (48%)
10. Dredger- (39%)
Almost half of participants claimed that they had never heard of a welder, a glazier or a dredger. Furthermore, of the 7% of individuals unable to give a correct definition of an electrician, 19% believed that this was a job linked to the entertainment industry i.e. electronic music.
When asked if they had ever realised that there was such a vast amount of trades within the construction industry, the majority (67%) admitted that they hadn’t. A further 18% revealed to researchers that they would make an active effort to look into the opportunities available in the construction industry as a young person.
Lyndon Wood, CEO of constructaquote.com, said: “I think it’s really important to highlight the fact that such a huge proportion of young Britons polled in our study were unable to correctly describe various construction trades which, 50 years ago, would have been a hell of a lot more commonplace in the UK.
“If schools put a tenth as much emphasis on teaching their pupils about the wide array of options available in the sectors as overlooked as construction, then I would hazard to guess that there would be a lot less 18 year olds leaving school totally clueless and stuck for what to choose as a career path!”
