MERSEYSIDE'S construction industry is facing a crisis unless more is done to help skilled tradesmen find jobs.
Regeneration chief Sir Joe Dwyer said developers must be forced to take on apprentices, or young bricklayers, plasterers and plumbers will drift out of the business.
Sir Joe, chairman of Liverpool Vision, blamed an increase in the number of self-employed tradesmen working on big building schemes for the lack of available jobs.
Firms are taking on specialist "sole traders" rather than building up their own workforces and taking on rookies.
Sir Joe spoke at the first meeting of a Liverpool council committee investigating whether city residents were missing out on Liverpool's construction bonanza.
Despite billions of pounds being spent regenerating the city centre, the ECHO has highlighted cases of locals struggling to get jobs on building sites.
He said: "Very few organisations are employing people to do the work directly. They bring in the self-employed.
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