Plumbing - a profession to beat the recession !

It's been said here before but it is proving to a solid fact: plumbing is coming out on top as one of the sure-proof industries to be in during the recession. An explosion of interest is occurring as it seems that thousands of workers are beginning to realise that a construction trade skill is a always a good bet, whatever the economic weather! The best training centres are receiving between 1000-1500 calls each week from those who are seriously considering to retrain and courses have been in high demand since the start of the credit crunch , 2008 onwards.

Plumbing and the other building trades have seen a large drop in the number of newly qualified workers over the last few years and it is estimated that the country will need over 4,500 additional plumbers to train each year for the next 4 years in order to cope with the growing demand for their skills. Obviously this means that at the present time there is quite a shortage of qualified professionals - and an even bigger shortage of 'green' plumbers who can work on the new generation of low emission, energy systems. High redundancy levels and the significant drops in recruitment has meant workers from all walks of life are now retraining and becoming a qualified plumber.

The simple facts are that taps are always going to drip and that pipes are always going to burst and that plumbers are always going to be needed and therefore, it is increasingly been recognised as one of the most stable and secure of employment sectors . It is also wel known that pay is very competitive as well which, of course is another persuasive reason for those who are thinking of retraining!

The results of a survey run by the City and Guilds at the end of 2008 showed that even with the economic slowdown and the inevitable recession, over 80% of plumbers are better off now than they were in the same period of 2007 - and the same went for a number of the other traditional trades.

The reason it seems is that many of the existing tradesmen are retiring earlier than normal which leaves a serious skills gap to fill and as yet it is only just beginning to be filled.

AbleSkills, as an officially approved and accredited training centre, run a number of introductory courses and intensive plumbing courses including Theory Distance Learning.Plumbers are always going to be needed and as the houses of the future become more environmentally friendly then 'green' plumbers are going to be in high demand too.