New Harvard Report Sees Lack of New Trades Workers as Major Construction Industry Challenge

An ongoing shortage of construction trade professionals is continuing to plague the industry, even though overall employment is up, says a new study issued by the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The study, Rebuilding the Construction Trades Workforce, notes that there are currently one million fewer workers in the construction trades than there were roughly two decades ago.

The shortage, all too familiar to construction company owners, stems from the “difficulty the industry has had attracting and retaining young people, women, and people of color.”

But the industry has also been challenged in trying to find “new immigrant trades workers who have historically filled the labor gaps.”

Result: By the end of 2022, the industry had roughly 6.2 million people working in construction trade occupations, a figure that had been slowly moving upward over the preceding two years, but was still significantly below the nearly 7 million seen in 2007.

Ironically, as policy makers in Washington debate the impact of ongoing large numbers of people coming over the U.S./Mexico border, the “flow of new immigrants into the construction industry is down significantly,” asserts the study.

The last decade charted that immigrant labor flow at around 45,000 annually, down from the 88,000 seen in the first decade of this century.

The study also looks at the challenge of the industry trying to recruit younger people to enter the professional trades. Referencing a National Association of Home Builders survey, it notes that the construction trades in general are “an unpopular career choice for young adults, with only 3% indicating it is a field they would like to pursue.”

Not all is gloom, however: “Several notable initiatives aim to expose younger generations to trades through the expansion of vocational training and apprenticeship programs.”

Those programs, such as the Washington-based Building Talent Foundation, are providing students with “hands-on experience and technical skills training in construction trades such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, and masonry.”

The study also notes that the industry has in general made efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, particularly in regards to addressing a lack of women in the field. The gains have been on the marginal side, but still appear to be moving in the right direction.

While women make up around 11% of the industry’s workforce, their numbers are higher at 14.5% when it comes to architecture and engineering jobs. In management, they are at around 14%.

While the overall numbers in various demographic groupings are incremental, the Harvard study concludes that industry initiatives aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented populations in the trades have proven successful.

In an advocacy note, the study adds: “Complementary immigration policies would help to ensure that the trades workforce avoids future costly gaps in labor supply.”

By Garry Boulard

Image Credit: Courtesy of Unsplash

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