|
A lack of skilled labor is reported by some to be the single biggest issue facing the nonresidential sector in 2008.
Those of you who have followed my blog might remember a few posts I made commenting on my July 23rd article: U.S. Construction Industry Faces Skilled Labor Shortage. The aim of both the article and the posts was to highlight the increasingly severe need for skilled workers, especially in commercial construction.
Several factors have contributed to this situation. First and foremost, far fewer young people have been entering the construction industry, causing the average age of a construction worker to slowly increase. Now, hovering in the late 40s depending on your location in the country, as many as half of the industry's most skilled laborers are on the brink of retirement. Within the next ten years, we will witness the mass exodus of the baby boomers from the construction industry.
Also, illegal immigrants have traditionally comprised at least some of the labor force. New efforts to prosecute firms that hire these laborers have caused the pool of available laborers to shrink further. Indeed, many rights groups are worried that companies will overreact in an effort to make sure they have complied with the law (in order to avoid the steep penalties of breaking it), and this will result in even legal immigrants sometimes being denied work. To companies, many immigrant laborers are either too risky to hire, or lack the necessary skills.
Meanwhile, commercial construction continues to grow and show strong fundamentals across the nation. With bad news in housing dominating the headlines, it might be easy to miss the fact that commercial construction has been doing very well.
The fact that commercial construction is growing while its skilled labor pool is shrinking poses an obvious hurdle to commercial construction's continued growth. MySanAntonio.com ran an article last week titled Despite housing slump, construction jobs keep rising. Doug McMurry, executive vice president of the San Antonio chapter of the AGC, says, "Far and away the biggest concern locally is a lack of skilled labor...it's going to be a very tough time for owners in 2008." And this is not mere conjecture: "McMurry sent surveys to San Antonio construction companies asking them for their biggest concern for 2008. Nearly 81 percent cited a lack of labor." These sentiments are not unique to San Antonio. The want for quality skilled laborers is felt from coast to coast.
With all the recent news about loosing construction jobs, perhaps the labor data should be examined. "A proper classification of these workers," points out an AGC economist, "would show nonresidential construction has actually added more than 10 percent to its payrolls, outpacing nearly every other industry." While total construction lost 112,000 jobs from September 2006, nonresidential construction added 42,000 (since September 2006). Furthermore, "AGC's report also stated that nonresidential wages have been the fastest increasing segment of the construction industry."
These facts collectively serve as a 'warning' sign to hiring managers for the next few years (at least): hire and train your skilled laborers now. The competition for skilled workers will only intensify, forcing wages up and the chance of you getting a quality worker down.
To workers, this information can serve as a career guide. For younger people who do decide to enter the industry, the increasing job security and rising wages of the nonresidential sector make it an ideal career choice.
For more on how and why to enter the construction industry, I invite you to read two posts: (I) Give me a week and I'll tell you why and how to enter the construction industry, and (II) Shrinking labor force means good things for those entering construction.
I invite you to comment on this article by clicking here to view the post about it on ConstructionJobsBlog.
RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE
You must be logged in
to recommend articles
| 
