URGENT action is needed to avert a crisis in skills and apprenticeships that could have a huge impact on the construction industry, the Unite union warns today.

PM Boris Johnson pledged last week to “build, build, build” Britain’s economy, but Unite, which represents construction workers, said that would not be achieved without measures to help construction.

The union is calling on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to support the sector when he gives his summer economic update this week.

The speech was initially intended to unveil an emergency Budget, but that will now be announced in the autumn.

Unite said that there could be 20,000 fewer apprenticeships in the building industry by then, partly as a result of the coronavirus crisis and employers’ reluctance to recruit because of economic uncertainty.

At least half of electrical construction apprentices are currently furloughed and there are growing concerns that they will lose their jobs when the scheme winds down, the union added.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “The Prime Minister’s pledge to build, build, build the country’s way out of this pandemic-caused crisis won’t get very far without a workforce.

“Construction apprenticeship training is in danger of collapsing as an after-effect of the pandemic, which is why we’re calling on the Chancellor to make it clear when he announces his plans for recovering the economy this week that our young workers will be given a chance of a career in construction.

“At the moment, for every one good-quality apprenticeship, there are 1,000 applicants.

“Young workers have to scale this huge mountain, so it is only right that they have the chance to complete their apprenticeship and have a job at the end of their training.”