Dive Brief:

• Construction software developer Trade Hounds has announced the launch of its Jobs Platform to connect contractors with skilled tradespeople.
• The platform includes information about nearly 175,000 workers who have built profiles to showcase their work.
• The Jobs Platform is available nationwide after what Trade Hounds describes as a “successful beta period.” During the testing, more than 30 contractors utilized the platform to evaluate and hire tradespeople.

Dive Insight:

“The large community of skilled tradespeople on Trade Hounds gives us access to a qualified pool of workers that we really can’t access anywhere else,” Matt Telmanik, president of CCS Construction Staffing, said in a press release.

Trade Hounds platform is the most recent application in a series of job-finding sites geared specifically to meeting the needs of the construction industry.

In July, construction management software provider Procore announced the launch of its Construction Career Board for recruiting and job finding. The Procore platform allows contractors to post jobs, which are automatically posted to other job-recruiting sites like GlassDoor. 

In September, a group of Silicon Valley executives with $4 million in venture backing launched a jobs platform, Core, to connect workers and contractors. Core touts itself as an in-app construction labor marketplace that leverages algorithms to produce a “match score” between workers’ skills and companies’ open positions, while streamlining job searches.

Construction employment took a massive plunge — plummeting by nearly 1 million workers in April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — at the outset of the pandemic. Since then, workers have seen the numbers gradually climb back to pre-coronavirus numbers. 

Finding workers may continue to be a challenge beyond the pandemic, as a shortage of skilled labor had long been an issue in construction. From workers refusing to return to jobs after contractors furloughed them or laid them off, to an inability to migrate to meet demand due to travel restrictions or safety concerns, the long-term effects of COVID-19 are unknown, industry watchers say.

Nevertheless, Generation Z is beginning to enter the construction workforce. These young people see construction as a respectable, viable option for a career path, leaving it up to contractors and trades groups to recruit them to consistent, rewarding jobs.