Construction labor shortage felt at each stage of projects
(The Center Square) – Construction companies lost workers during the pandemic, Kansas included, and are still facing a shortage of labor in this stage of recovery.
In part, the shortage, Mike Gibson, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of Kansas (AGC), told The Center Square, is the shift of focus from vocational programs to traditional college.
“For the most part Kansas, like other states, has dismantled high-school vocational programs for many years, instead choosing to focus on sending all kids to college,” Gibson said. “Over the last 10 years, AGC of Kansas worked with Kansas legislators to pass SB 155 that provides $ 1000.00/student that high-schools and community colleges enroll into vocational programs. SB 155 has provided incentives for educators to revamp vocational training in their respective schools.”
The longstanding image of the construction industry has also been a contributing factor.
“Some of the shortages resulted in our industry’s lack of focus to change the image of the construction industry with the youth and their parents,” Gibson said. “Four years ago, AGC of Kansas launched ‘Build Up Kansas’ – www.buildupks.com – that utilizes social media to target 17- (to) 22-year-old women and men and their parents on the many professional careers in the construction industry, and use this platform to not only change the image of our industry but also recruit the younger generation into good paying professional careers.”
The cost of the labor shortage is felt by all, including the consumer.
“Worker shortages are placing a premium on worker training, worker compensation and worker’s ability for upward mobility,” Gibson said. “With a large demand for skilled workers and small supply of workers to meet the upward trends in construction projects, wages are moving higher and thus the cost of projects are moving higher. Couple higher wages with higher material cost due to the disruption in supply change, we will continue to see these inflationary pressures for the next several years.”
Most can agree, the construction industry is ready for a new batch of stalwarts.
“Most of our workers from the 2007-08 recession have returned, but many are now reaching their retirement years (baby boomers) and thus that’s why AGC of Kansas has worked for the last 20 years in placing our craft training materials in over 125 Kansas high-schools and community colleges,” Gibson said. “The endgame is to develop the necessary construction industry – educational partnership that develops the younger generation into valuable entry-level construction workers and provides an industry sponsored construction trades programs with our community college partners to provide the educational career path for worker upward mobility in the industry.”
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