Construction firms are struggling to find workers to such a degree that it\u2019s threatening the success of federal investment in infrastructure and manufacturing projects, the Associated General Contractors of America said Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Citing its annual construction workforce survey<\/a> of nearly 1,300 employers commissioned with tech provider Autodesk, AGC said 93% of construction firms have open positions, and 91% are having trouble filling them, particularly among the craft workforce that performs the bulk of onsite construction work.<\/p>\n The shortages ran the gamut of firms, from contractors who exclusively use union craft labor and those that operate as open-shop employers; from companies making $50 million to $500 million in revenue; those in all four regions of the country and ones that focus on building construction, highway and transportation projects, federal and heavy work or utility infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cConstruction workforce shortages are severe and having a significant impact on construction firms of all types, all sizes and all labor arrangements,\u201d said Ken Simonson, the association\u2019s chief economist, in a statement. <\/p>\n Citing July\u2019s construction unemployment rate of 3.5%, which was lower than that of the overall economy, he said, \u201cthat essentially means there’s almost nobody out there with construction experience looking for a new job in construction.\u201d<\/p>\n The AGC\u2019s survey came on the heels of this week\u2019s job openings report<\/a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found there are 375,000 unfilled positions in construction currently, a jump of 11.3% from a year ago.<\/p>\n During a webinar to detail the results of the AGC\u2019s survey, Stephanie Simpkins, president of Liberty Lake, Washington-based traffic control contractor Northstar Enterprises, said a shortage of workers is impacting the safety of her jobs. <\/p>\n \u201cOur projects encounter much longer hours worked than we would have in the past because we don’t have people to relieve others,\u201d Simpkins said, describing the domino effect of fewer breaks for workers due to fewer people being on each job. \u201cThis year in particular was a real struggle to man all of our projects and do it in a way that keeps everybody safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Stephen Sines,\u00a0vice president of operations in the Florida office of the Danbury, Connecticut-based Morganti Group, said the lack of workers is forcing projects to take longer, which breaks their budgets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen any infrastructure projects be canceled, but we certainly have seen extended durations as a result of lack of labor, which also results in higher costs,\u201d Sines said. <\/p>\n On the manufacturing front, Brian Turmail, AGC\u2019s vice president of public affairs and strategic initiatives, pointed to chip giant Intel\u2019s gargantuan task of finding 7,000 construction workers to build two semiconductor fab plants<\/a> in Ohio. \u00a0<\/p>\n Combined with the surge of work that\u2019s expected from last year\u2019s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law as well as the recently passed $52 billion CHIPS Act and the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act, there will be demand for a volume of construction workers that, in many markets, simply doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge is that as these projects could take longer to build and become more expensive, communities that may have thought they were going to build ten new roads are going to build seven,\u201d Turmail said. \u201cThat’s what we mean about not meeting potential.\u201d<\/p>\n Among potential solutions, contractors on the call talked about more education to train workers, promoting the fact that construction offers lucrative pay without a college degree and reaching out to people who were formerly incarcerated. A full 77% of respondents to the survey said their biggest challenge in finding workers is that available applicants simply don\u2019t have the construction skills to do the job. <\/p>\n Participants on the call said that immigration reform was desperately needed to enable the current investment in infrastructure to be as effective as those during past generations. <\/p>\n \u201cConstruction is one of many industries that historically relied \u2013 much more than they’ve been able to in the last three years \u2013 on foreign born workers,\u201d Simonson said. \u201cThe federal government could revert to allowing more people in, particularly if they’re screened first, and if a contractor can demonstrate the need to fill that position.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This item was originally posted here: Read More<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"