Even as the number of people working in the nation’s construction industry has been on a non-stop increase since the first devastating months of the Covid 19 outbreak, the number of workers needed to keep pace with upcoming project demands is sorely lacking.
So reveals an extensive new study put together by the Washington-based Associated Builders and Contractors showing that the industry for 2024 needs at least 501,000 additional workers, and that’s not even counting the additional 454,000 required in 2025 to “keep on top of normal hiring to meet industry demand.”
The study documents that with the exception of the pandemic’s appearance in the spring of 2020, construction employment has been on a consistent upward climb since 2011, during the depths of the Great Recession.
The study also reveals numbers that are coming and going: “An estimated 1.9 million construction workers will leave their jobs to work in other industries in 2024,” says an ABC press release.
But this figure “should be offset by an anticipated 2.1 million workers who will leave other industries to work in construction.”
The study shows how closely construction employment and construction spending play out, with the trends for both showing a general increase over the last 23 years.
But even with nearly 8 million people employed in construction as of late last year, the ongoing shortage portends trouble, remarks Michael Bellaman in a statement. Not addressing the need for more workers, he said, “will slow improvements to our shared built environment, worker productivity, living standards, and the places where we heal, learn, play, work, and gather.”
Additional employment challenges confronting the industry: with interest rates expected to decline this year, more financing will be available for more projects, thus underlining the need for additional workers.
But even more, noted Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist, “More than one in five construction workers are 55 or older, meaning that retirement will continue to contract the industry’s workforce.”
“These are the most experienced workers, and their departures are especially concerning,” Basu added.
Bellaman remarked that in an attempt to address the ongoing construction worker shortage, ABC has to date established a network or more than eight hundred apprenticeship, craft, health and safety and management education programs, along with 450 plus government-registered apprenticeship programs.
By Garry Boulard
