We've been telling you for months that a worker shortage is a reality and the evidence continues to roll in that we've been correct. YNN Austin now reports that the building boom in the Texas capital city has put real stress on the labor supply.
From YNN:
Right now crews are building 12,000 apartment and condo units in Austin, two-thirds of those are going up in the city center.
Ryan Robinson, and Austin city demographer, said the explosion in growth isn’t likely to let up anytime soon.
"That pipeline can only get so much bigger,” Robinson said. “In other words, regardless of how rapidly we are growing, regardless of how many units contractors would like to put up, there are only so many trades people to hire."
Austin is part of a handful of cities labeled “vibrant" by developers, Robinson said. That means investors are dumping inordinate amounts of money into projects because the city’s edgy image.
YNN points to electrician Roy Acevedo as one example of a contractor doing his best to keep up:
"We have at least two or three years of work and our customers are saying they have another five to seven," Acevedo said.
The market has changed from contractors and laborers looking for work to them choosing work.
"It's tough. When a customer calls and they say, “Look we have five new projects starting,” you have to staff them with foremen, managers, guys, and laborers, and they are fighting over these people,” Acevedo said. “You've got only so many resources and it is tough."
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