Construction firms around the United States are desperately looking for workers and they are struggling to find them at all levels of building experience.
Though they are trying to find workers with all levels of experience, it's suggested that carpenters and electricians are the most in-demand specialties right now.
Since 2007, the ratio of construction job openings to hiring, according to the Department of Labor, is currently at the highest that it has been.
The shortage of workers is fueling a rise in cost for builders, worker wages, and it's been slowing down the construction process. At a time when many areas are struggling with a real estate dilemma and shortage of housing, this certainly isn't helping things.
Private construction companies say that they haven't done a good enough job at trying to market the career as an option to workers today.
For those who go straight into learning a trade or working in some field directly out of high-school, sometimes they have better luck than had they drowned themselves in debt for several years at a post-secondary institution.
Private companies are doing what they can to try and attract some interested employees, they've even taken to handing out flyers at sports events, schools, and churches. In some instances, they are directly funding the training in a variety of workshops.
Some areas are seeing a worse shortage of labor than others, areas like Georgia, Arizona, Missouri, California, and Colorado.
In Colorado, the worsening situation has prompted one homebuilder to fund a free school that is going to be funded by a Berkshire Hathaway-owned company known as Oakwood Homes. For every home that the company closes on, they will be looking to send at least $1,000 to fund the school program. And this year, they are allegedly closing on more than 1,300 homes.
According to Colorado State University, they suggest that by 2025 there will be at least a 38 percent increase in vacancies in the construction trade. For construction companies, the shortage of labor is one of their biggest issues right now that they are facing and it has allegedly been growing steadily since the housing crash. That crash is estimated to have pushed roughly 30 percent of workers into other fields.
When it comes to homebuilders views of the labor shortage problem, back in 2011 around 13 percent had reported and said that they saw it as an issue for their business. Things have changed however, today it's roughly 82 percent who report viewing this as a problem for their business.
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/desperate-for-workers-a-colorado-homebuilder-starts-a-free-school.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-construction-worker-shortage-weighs-on-hot-us-housing-market-2016-9
http://www.ajc.com/business/economy/georgia-construction-companies-where-are-the-workers/Vsby4cuqkARdJctcjDpnFP/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/05/20/only-27-percent-of-college-grads-have-a-job-related-to-their-major/?utm_term=.83ac12f95f88
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/15/why-college-grads-cant-find-jobs-commentary.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2017/08/29/agc-survey-labor-shortages-construction.html
https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/jobs/2017/08/29/arizona-shortage-of-construction-workers-contractors-paying-higher-wages/609418001/
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