Skilled-labor shortage a strain on Dallas-Fort Worth construction boom

Dive Brief:

A major shortage of skilled labor is extending project timelines, by months in some cases, and is putting pressure on home prices in the Dallas and Fort Worth, TX, markets, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Ted Wilson, a Dallas-area housing analyst, told the Morning News that housing starts there today are down 40% from a decade ago in part due to the worker shortage.
The tight labor conditions are adding costs, from longer work cycles to higher wages required to attract workers, which many Dallas builders are passing along to buyers in the form of an additional $4,000 on the price of a home, a recent survey found.

Dive Insight:

The U.S. construction industry continues to face a major shortage of skilled workers as building activity rebounds following the recession and exposes a gap in the labor pipeline.

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that construction employment gains were steady coming out of the recession but tapered off recently. That’s not because work is slowing down. Multiple reports this year from the Associated General Contractors of America found that contractors are having difficulty filling hourly skilled jobs but that job openings are the highest in a decade.

Dodge Data & Analytics recently forecast a 5% increase in the value of construction starts this year, while an easing in the energy markets that was expected to funnel more workers into the construction industry has not materialized.

The labor crisis is not expected to abate in the near-term as Dodge Data & Analytics recently forecast a 5% increase in the value of construction starts this year, while an easing in the energy markets that was expected to funnel more workers into the construction industry has not materialized.

Talking to press at the 2017 Design and Construction Week in Orlando, FL, National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz noted that the issue of labor, in particular, is set to be a critical factor in the health of the industry moving forward.

The issue is especially pronounced in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, which is seeing renewed construction growth amid a solid job market and slow but steady population gains in recent years. In October, Jacobs Engineering Group announced that it would be relocating its corporate headquarters from Pasadena, CA, to Dallas. Toyota announced a similar move in 2014, relocating from Torrance, CA, to nearby Plano, TX.

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