A shortage of professional painters and decorators could prompt a ‘manpower crisis’ in the industry, according to a new report.

Research from paint brand Dulux Trade predicts that decorating firms could be forced to hire workers from overseas within the next 20 years because of the lack of new recruits into the industry.

Its survey of 1,000 young people revealed fewer than 5% were considering becoming decorators, bricklayers, electricians or plumbers because the jobs sounded boring or lacked prestige.

Most teens had their sights set on journalism, law, teaching or computer programming and had not considered the manual trades.

Dulux said youngsters did not understand that decorating is a highly skilled trade in great demand.

Britain’s building trade has launched a campaign to attract school leavers. Over 50% of building firms report problems recruiting skilled labour.