In all my conversations with industry professionals over the last couple of months, the word has filtered back that business is picking up. Some architects I spoke with recently have more work than they can handle. I think the only proper response to that news is, “Whew. Thank goodness.” The last few years have been hard on the construction industry, especially residential. Everyone has suffered as the economy faltered. After a long, slow climb out of the depths, it’s nice to breathe a bit of bright, fresh air.
Of course, we’re not entirely free of the difficulties and there is darkness in the picture. Looking toward 2016, the one thing that is really bothering me, that I think could have a harsher impact on our industry than all others, is the shortage of skilled labor.
This is not a new story. Way back in the early- to mid-1990s, the construction industry was faced with a shortage of skilled labor. The cause was pretty simple to identify. The major source of labor for construction prior to that had been 18-34-year-old males, predominantly white. That age cohort, known as Generation X, was much smaller than previous generations, so there just weren’t as many available, traditional workers.
There was another issue that exacerbated that shortage. Our culture began to denigrate people who earned their livings by the skill of their hands: blue-collar workers. We paid them poorly, offered few benefits and began to see them as replaceable parts of our throwaway culture. A national poll conducted during that time rated desirable careers and placed carpenter at the bottom of more than 200 possible choices. Not good news for our industry.
Because of those two major issues, the industry sought skilled labor from non-traditional sources, and you can see the affect on our job sites today. Much of our construction force is dominated by immigrant and minority labor.
Now, as the industry ramps up, we’re facing another shortage, but this time that cohort of workers, 18- 34 year olds, is actually quite large. It’s larger than the Baby Boomer generation at that age. So, what’s the problem this time?
We’re still treating construction workers with less value than they deserve. I’ve said this previously, but it bears repeating. Working in the trades as a skilled worker is a great job, but it is not a great career. Yes, you can have a very satisfying job that, at the end of the day, allows you to feel a sense of accomplishment. And yes, you can earn a good living while you’re doing it. But, we are still treating those people as replaceable parts, and it’s hard to build a career if you know that during the next economic downturn your job will disappear.
There’s a lot of buzz in the industry about how we can solve the skilled labor shortage. The answer is really quite simple.
Step 1. Create construction careers that have stability and growth potential.
Step 2. Provide long-term compensation programs that attract workers to a satisfying but difficult environment.
Step 3. Ensure that the work environment is safe, safe, safe. (There is no compromise on this one. Safety is table stakes. If you can’t provide it, get out of the game.)
Step 4. Stop competing for work on cost, and start selling the value of what you deliver.
That last step involves a cultural change in our industry. We toil in a low-bidder-wins atmosphere. But we can’t expect the population at large to start valuing skilled workers if we don’t sell them on it.
If we’ve learned anything about the skilled labor shortage in the last 20 years, it’s that the root cause is poor attitudes toward construction. The most important thing we can do to reverse that-and it will take years-is to begin proving the value of what we deliver rather than undermining ourselves by discounting our value.
