CLEVELAND, Ohio - Construction hiring slowed to a crawl
during the recession. Now, an improving economy has sparked more construction
activity, but employers are having difficulty finding qualified workers,
according to a new report by a national contractors'
organization.
Nationally, 83 percent of construction firms reported
varying degrees of difficulty in filling key professional and craft worker
positions, according to the report released Wednesday by the Associated General
Contractors of America, based in the Washington, D.C., area. In Ohio, 91
percent of construction firms reported such difficulties in hiring, the report
said.
About 2 million workers lost jobs in the construction
industry during the economic downturn, said Ken Simonson, chief economist for
the Associated General Contractors, during the news conference releasing the
report.
He said some workers retired while others got jobs in
industries that were hiring, such as oil, gas and trucking. Though construction
hiring is now brisk in many parts of the country, these workers haven't
returned to their former industry. Another reason that makes hiring difficult?
Simonson said since construction careers aren't being emphasized in the
schools, there isn't a steady pipeline of workers being created to fill these
openings.
"Considering how much the nation's educational focus
has moved away from teaching students career and technical skills (which used
to be known as vocational education,) during the past few decades, it is easy
to understand why the construction industry is facing such severe labor
shortages," Simonson said. "Too few students are getting exposed to
construction careers or being provided with the basic skills for such a career
path."
David Wondolowski, who heads the Cleveland Building and
Construction Trades Council, agrees that there needs to be more of an emphasis
on construction careers, but he disagrees with the report's conclusion that
there is a labor shortage in the industry.
He said since much of Northeast Ohio's construction
economy is healthy, many find it relatively easy to land a job. (In fact, an Associated General Contractors report released in July showed
Northeast Ohio with a seven-year high in construction employment, adding more
new construction jobs in the past year than 330 out of 339 metro areas.)
Though qualified workers may be in demand here, their
supply isn't severely limited, Wondolowski said.
"We are heavily unionized in this part of Northeast
Ohio," he said. "Typically, when the demand for construction workers
is not being met, it is in the nonunion sector, where wages are low. Those jobs
are less appealing.
"They (nonunion employers) don't have the training
programs that compare with our training programs," Wondolowski said.
"They lack training, which certainly leads to less security in employment.
They don't pay the wages that we do, therefore it is hard, not only to get a
new workforce, but also to maintain a workforce."
Norman Edwards, president of the American Center for
Economic Equality, also disagrees there is a shortage of qualified workers. For
several years, he has lobbied to get black and other minority construction
workers included in local projects. He said if there is a labor shortage, why
then do so many of these workers remain without jobs?
"If you look around on the job sites here, you will
find few - if any - black and minority workers," he said.
"There are plenty of qualified journeymen and
tradesmen who are in the industry, but they are not sent out from the union
hall," Edwards said. "It is because of racism. I don't know how you
can get around it without saying that it is racism."
Edwards said unions and construction companies were in
"collusion" with each other to keep black workers and other
minorities in construction from getting hired.
Wondolowski disagreed.
"One of the primary objectives of the Cleveland
Building and Construction Trades Council is to ensure a diverse and inclusive
workforce," he said. "We do that by various means, including
community outreach to minority groups and women -- and we have success in all
of those areas."
Here are the details about how construction firms in Ohio
expressed difficulty in filling positions:
- 35 percent said they were having a hard time filling some craft worker positions, but no difficulty filling professional positions (Nationally, it was 29 percent.)
- 30 percent said they were having a hard time filling some key professional and craft worker positions (Nationally, it was 27 percent.)
- 26 percent said they were having a hard time filling all key professional and craft worker positions (Nationally, it was 27 percent.)
Source: Cleveland.com
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