Worker’s Are Not Prepared for Construction Careers

88 Percent of Construction Firms Having a Hard Time Finding Workers to Hire, Undermining Efforts to Build Infrastructure & Other Projects as Firms Boost Pay, Embrace AI to Cope with Labor Shortages

Few candidates have the basic skills needed to work in high-paying construction careers, forcing short-staffed contractors to find new ways to keep pace with demand and undermining efforts to build infrastructure and other projects, according to the results of a workforce survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and Autodesk. The results highlight significant shortcomings in the nation’s approach to preparing workers for careers in construction.

“The biggest takeaway from this year’s Workforce Survey is how much the nation is failing to prepare future workers for high-paying careers in fields like construction,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “It is time to rethink the way the nation educates and prepares workers.”

Simonson noted that 85 percent of construction firms report they have open positions they are trying to fill. Among those firms, 88 percent are having trouble filling at least some of those positions – particularly among the craft workforce that performs the bulk of onsite construction work.

All types of firms are experiencing these challenges. Largely similar results were reported by contractors that use exclusively union craft labor and by firms that operate as open-shop employers; by firms with $50 million or less in annual revenue and ones with more than $500 million in revenue; by companies in all four regions of the country; and by contractors doing building construction, highway and transportation projects, federal and heavy work, or utility infrastructure. Click here to read the full article on this topic as published by the AGC.

Heidi