As part of a series of seminars on “People and Culture in Construction”
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) we are running
a seminar on foreign workers in construction at The University of Reading
on 26 November.
Construction employers in many countries rely heavily on foreign
workers and ‘black-market’ employment, as construction work becomes
considered undesirable among citizens in wealthy countries. This
trend, however, is not universal: some countries have developed
construction forms and processes that succeed without recourse to foreign
labour, providing construction jobs sufficiently attractive to their
indigenous citizens instead. This seminar will explore the reasons
for these different development trajectories and the possibilities for
and difficulties of moving from one mode to another. Presenters
include several researchers/academics from the UK, Denmark, and the
Netherlands, as well as a representative of the DTI’s Construction Sector
Unit and the former general secretary of UCATT. (Please see the
programme below for details.)
Topics to be addressed include the various means of addressing a widely
touted skills shortage in the UK construction sector. Construction
employers may already turn to workers from elsewhere in the EU, though
the employment of such workers is likely to be anything but
straightforward. Questions may arise concerning the challenge of
integrating such workers and the effects on other elements of the sector
(wages, technology, etc.). Employers are also turning to workers
from outside the EU. Is this trend benign, or does it undermine the
future employment of UK workers? Finally, what can we in the UK
learn from the experience of countries where foreign workers are not
commonly employed in construction?
If you are interested in attending, please contact Rathisha Fernandes on
[log in to unmask] for a registration form. If you would like
more information, please contact me by return email.
David Bartram
Dept. of Sociology
University of Reading