By: Daniel Escobar Bercini
The construction industry has long been characterized by its resilience, adaptability, and importance in fueling economic growth. The industry employs around 8 million people in the US. As we strive to achieve the sustained economic growth needed to continue to improve the quality of life of everyone, there are many opportunities that we can take advantage of to achieve those goals. In this article, we will explore how diversity, youth employment, small and minority-owned business support, and legal immigration can contribute to building the sustainable construction community that we need. Now more than ever the world needs a strong United States to help with the ever-increasing challenges, and construction is at the core of that strength.
Opportunity #1- Diversity in the Construction Workforce:
A diverse workforce is essential for the construction industry to thrive in the United States. With diversity, we mean appealing to people from different backgrounds, stages of life, ethnicity, and gender. It is a well-known fact that we are experiencing a deficit of construction workers and that in the future, to keep up with the infrastructure requirements of a transforming economy, we will require even more workers. According to the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) in 2023 we were short a little over half a million workers just in the construction industry. At the same time, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), as of 2020 one in ten construction workers were women, and only 5.1% of Black Americans participated in this industry. While there is nothing wrong with the current composition of construction workers, and without minimizing them, the numbers show how much opportunity there is in appealing to females and other ethnicities. We have the people to fill current and future labor needs just by appealing to a more diverse workforce.
Opportunity #2- Youth Employment
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from April to July of 2023, there were 826,000 young people (16 to 24) unemployed, which means they were looking for a full-time job and couldn’t find one. While we need our youngsters to get an education through schooling, after high school, going to college is not the only route to education and building a career. Trade school, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training are essential tools to provide them with career options without the high costs of college. Besides the cost of college, some people are just naturally gifted with talents that make them better at the construction trades. Our industry has a lot of opportunities to attract and train the younger generation to secure the construction workers that are needed today and that will be needed tomorrow.
Opportunity #3- Small and Minority-Owned Business Support.
According to the US Small Business Administration around 99.9% of businesses in the US are classified as small businesses. What this tells us is that most of the companies that will hire and train the new generation of construction workers will be small businesses, therefore the importance of supporting them and helping them be successful. Now, of all the small businesses about 37.6% are women-owned, 29.5% Minority-Owned, and 5.7% Veteran-owned. This data is a bit outdated, from 2017, but is the most recent one that we have available. These percentages are important because if we want more diverse and young talent in our industry, we need them to feel represented by the companies they see and work for. It would be more attractive for a young African American to join the industry if they see others like him running a company or leading a team.
Opportunity #4- Legal Immigration
The US construction industry has always relied on skilled workers from different parts of the world. Addressing immigration challenges and advocating for straightforward paths for legal immigration can further enhance the industry’s ability to attract and retain skilled professionals. In a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report from 2020, they found that one in four construction workers were foreign-born, aka, immigrants. There is no doubt that we have an immigration problem, and also that there is a huge opportunity to solve the current labor shortage by providing a solution.
Building a sustainable construction community is a challenging task, but it is necessary to keep up with the needs of our community and to keep fueling economic growth. We want our young people to have rewarding and well-paying jobs, and construction can give them that. We also need more workers, so if we as an industry take advantage of these opportunities before us, we can achieve a better future for everyone and guarantee our country’s success for many generations to come.
*https://www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/construction-workforce-shortage-tops-half-a million-in-2023-says-abc
*https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2022/the-construction-industry-labor-force-2003-to-2020/home.htm
*https://www.agc.org/learn/construction-data#:~:text=Construction%20is%20a%20major%20con tributor,worth%20of%20structures%20each%20year.
