The FIS Wage Rate Survey 2025 (data gathered in the first quarter of the year) revealed that, across the trades, FIS members have continued to experience increases in wage rates averaging around 7% in key trade occupations (the full index is available to contributors only).
Commenting on the data FIS CEO Iain McIlwee stated:
“The data underpins that the supply chain continues to be hit by inflationary pressures with an annual increase of 7% in 2025 piling on top of double digit inflation in 2024. If we look at what this means in real terms, for some trade areas rates are now (cumulatively) 75% higher than when we started to gather data in 2020. If we compare this to the wider economy, construction wages continue to outstrip the national average which was below 6% in 2025 and 2025. This is putting real pressure on specialist contractors. Comments gathered as part of the research raised concerns linking this inflation to shortages in key trade areas. If the market does start to improve in 2025 and 2026 there are very real concerns that the skills are simply not going to be there to meet demand. To address this, it is vital that recent Government announcements about investment in skills don’t just get lost in long term strategy, but are invested in supporting employers now in training and developing their workforce.”
The survey also points to changes in the structure of the workforce, which continues to trend away from direct employment, which has fallen from 26% in 2021 to 23% in 2025.
FIS also gathered data on Payment Trends, with around 20% suggesting that payment payment practices have worsened in the past 12 months and less than 5% reporting improvements.
FIS gathers and collates a range of market data to support the sector, you can see the full range of data available here.