Dive Brief:
- Strong demand in the construction industry has once again driven construction employment up, fueling November job growth in 38 states between October and November, and in 44 states and the District of Columbia over the last 12 months, the Associated General Contractors of America reported.
- According to the AGC, a shortage of available skilled workers is still hampering what could be even faster job growth. Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist, said construction employment has grown 4.2% between November 2014 and November 2015 — more than double the rate of total nonfarm employment — and construction spending has risen 13% in the same period, indicating a need for more workers.
- Florida (10,600 jobs, 2.5%) saw the largest October-to-November job gains in employment, while South Dakota (5.6%, 1,300 jobs) saw the highest month-to-month percentage increase of construction jobs. On the flip side, Pennsylvania (-4,600 jobs, -1.9%) and Delaware (-3.6%, -800 jobs) lost the most jobs between October and November.
Dive Insight:
Given the fact that the construction industry is currently seeing its lowest level of unemployment in 15 years, Simonson said employers might have difficulty filling positions in the future.
"In nearly every state, contractors are busier now than a year ago," Simonson said in a statement. "Employment is up, but the industry would be expanding even more rapidly if contractors could find enough qualified workers."
The AGC said now is the time to increase investment in career and technical education programs and cited its 2015 Workforce Development Plan as a model as the threat of an aging workforce and fewer younger workers coming into construction continues to loom over a recovering industry.
Bolstering the AGC’s position on the lack of skilled workers, the Associated Builders and Contractors, in its most recent Construction Backlog Indicator report, said the lack of skilled workers has constrained backlog growth in recent quarters to the point that more firms are having to turn down work.
There have been promising employment numbers in the last few months, but the experts have said those gains could be due to workers leaving weakening industries like energy and manufacturing.
Another reason, they said, could be rising wages. In fact, the Engineering News-Record Construction Industry Confidence Index fourth-quarter survey found that the majority of respondents planned to give pay raises averaging 4.63% in 2016, with the largest increase going to specialty trade contractor employees.
