A new bill is currently under review in the U.S. Senate that is specifically designed to enhance construction training programs to ease the ongoing residential construction labor shortage.
As introduced by Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn and Nevada Democrat Senator Jackie Rosen, the legislation would provide support for programs in both community colleges and technical education schools that focus on construction labor training.
Officially called the Creating Opportunities for New Skills Training at Rural or Underserved Colleges and Trade Schools Act, the measure would create a competitive grant program through the Department of Labor for a series of training initiatives.
In introducing the bill, Rosen remarked that the “shortage of skilled construction workers is driving up construction costs and limiting the housing supply, leading to even higher housing costs.”
What is being simply called the CONSTRUCTS Act, added Rosen, would not only expand the nation’s construction workforce, but will “increase housing supply and lower costs, all while supporting training for good-paying, high-demand jobs that don’t require a college degree.”
A previous version of the bill had made it to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions before the end of the last Congress. Prospects for the bill’s success in the new Congress, meanwhile, are thought to be promising.
The bill has won the support of various industry groups, including the National Association of Home Builders. In a statement, Carl Harris, chairman of the association, noted that the nation’s ongoing labor shortage is continuing to cause “construction delays and raising housing costs.”
Harris added that in “any given month, our industry faces a shortage of between 200,000 and 400,000 construction workers.”
January 24, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
