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I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that we are in “crazy time”, not only in politics, but also in the construction industry. Makes me wonder whether they are linked.The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) report on the May 2012 construction job numbers show that over 50% of the 337 US Metro areas gained new jobs over the past year. That is great news for the folks working in those metro areas. At the same time, AGC reports that in the other half (48.7%) of the metro areas, jobs in the construction industry are still declining. (You can see how your Metro is doing by referring to their List of Construction Employment by Metropolitan Area or Division, May 2011-May 2012.)We recently reported that there are major shortages of skilled labor in Arizona and that there are thousands of jobs going unfilled in some other markets.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
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A great article in a small publication points out that employers around the Great State aren’t just anticipating a labor shortage, they’re already feeling it.Community Impact Newspaper reports that employers are already having trouble finding people for jobs like plumbing, pipefitting, electricians and machinists. At a recent meeting of business leaders with Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, a man who manufactures furniture in San Marcos put it bluntly: “I couldn’t find an employee in this town if my life depended on it.”In the article, Combs remarks on welding jobs in Texas: “Right now you can’t hire a welder. We’re about 500 to 1,000 [employees] short.”
July 05, 2012
The coming labor shortage we’ve reported on extensively at Construction Citizen isn’t confined to the United States. Germany, an economic powerhouse like Texas, now has its economic performance threatened because the country’s businesses can’t find enough skilled laborers.If this doesn’t drive home the point, perhaps nothing will: The head of Germany’s Labor Office, Frank-Jürgen Weise, says “the skills squeeze could hinder the German economy more than the debt crisis”, according to an article in International News publication the Global Post.Among the biggest reasons for the shortage: A failure to educate enough young people to meet industry’s needs. The Global Post article quotes Stefan Hardege, head of the German Chamber of Commerce's labor market unit, as stating: “Every third company we surveyed said that they saw the skills shortage as one of the biggest risks to the development of their business over the next 12 months.” Weiss also predicted that by the year 2025, Germany will be short on labor to the tune of about 3 million workers.
July 03, 2012
The fact that more than 12 million Americans are without work while employers simultaneously face a labor shortage has become a fascination for me. Every time I write about it, people ask “How is this even possible?”Employers are struggling right now to fill jobs that require skilled (or talented) workers,according to a survey by Manpower Group. Half the employers told Manpower they have trouble finding people to fill positions.American companies aren’t the only ones with this problem. Thirty-five percent of companies worldwide said they have real difficulty finding talented individuals to fill the jobs they’re advertising.
June 28, 2012
The housing numbers came out last week and Bloomberg News reported on the shortages of skilled carpenters and construction workers in the hot, hot, hot Phoenix housing market. According to the report penned by Bloomberg reporter Prashant Gopal, the housing market has improved from the crash and is now close to a three year high.That improvement in the market combined with the passage of SB-1070, the Arizona immigration bill that sent a large number of undocumented workers back to their homes in Mexico, has created a skilled worker shortage that one contractor called a real “knife fight” for labor in the market.
June 27, 2012
On Saturday, June 16, 2012, the American Subcontractors Association-Houston Chapter (ASA-HC), in partnership with the Hispanic Contractors Association of Texas (HCAT) hosted a one-day OSHA 10-hour construction safety training marathon. 791 individuals were successfully trained and left at the end of the day with an OSHA 10-Hour Construction Outreach Card. The program, conducted in both English and Spanish, is designed for construction workers, foremen, job site superintendents, project managers, and anyone involved in the construction industry.
June 25, 2012
Peter Caulfield, a correspondent for the Journal of Commerce: Western Canada’s Construction Newspaper, wrote last week that owners of newly designed buildings are looking at innovative ways to get their buildings constructed as a result of a shortage of skilled labor in the industry.Caulfield was reporting on a recent Building Owners and Managers Association of Manitoba (BOMA) luncheon where Michael Grimes, the director of business development for FWS Commercial Projects, Ltd. was a guest speaker. Grimes lamented the high construction costs which he said is the result of a lack of skilled trades people. According to the article, the cost of building an industrial warehouse in Winnipeg is $90 per square foot while the cost to build the same building in North Carolina is $35 per square foot. Grimes asserted that this higher cost is due to the lack of available trades people at the sub-contractor level. He stated:“Due to all of the construction activity in Winnipeg, the demand for trades people has been exceeding supply for the last five years or so. ... You don’t save money by beating up on your sub-trades. You save money by thinking outside the box.”
June 21, 2012
Around the country, more local and state leaders are starting to understand that there has to be a proactive approach to dealing with the impending labor shortfall. The shortage is already starting to hit some builders and other businesses in Texas, and it will only get worse if current trends hold.In Georgia, they’ve started a program to address this called “Go Build Georgia”. It includes big-time promotion from big-name talent: Mike Rowe of Mike Rowe Works and Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs”. State and industry leaders are working together with educators to try to get kids excited about the idea of a career in the skilled trades.Governor Nathan Deal’s office put together some statistics that are truly alarming, including:
June 19, 2012
The employment numbers released this month were less than exciting, and we went looking for a broader view of those numbers for the construction industry so that we could put them into context.Calculated Risk is a Finance and Economics blog produced by Bill McBride since 2005 and is listed as one of the Best Economics Blogs by the Wall Street Journal. McBride has provided one of the clearest views on the industry and the unemployment figures that we have found.A recent article entitled Employment Report Graphs: Construction, Duration of Unemployment and Diffusion Indexes gives us a long-term graphic view of the figures that BLS released June 1. Looks to me like our industry employment figures are about the same
June 18, 2012
I have recently come across a couple of interesting viewpoints on the world of work.First, there is a new book authored by Susan Cain entitled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. In it she talks about being an introvert and how she has learned to cope with the extroverted world we live in. She states that somewhere between 30% and 50% of the workforce are introverts who make enormous contributions to the world as we know it. But, she explains how the current emphasis on extroverts has created education and working environments that do not provide for privacy or time to think for the introverts of the world.This phenomenon, illustrated by Cain in her presentation to a TED 2012 group, can be found even in
June 13, 2012
