According to a Forbes article published last year, Construction is one of the 10 fastest growing industries in the United States. In fact, according to that article, “seven of the top 10 industries with the highest sales growth rates are related to construction”[1]. In other words, there may never be a better opportunity to be in the construction business than now, which brings me to my point.
According to a recent article in the online publication MarketWatch, “Employers added a net new 23,000 construction jobs in September, the Labor Department said Friday, and the number of people working in the industry was 315,000 higher compared to a year earlier.” The article goes on to say, “At the end of July 2018, there were 273,000 open construction jobs, according to a separate Labor Department report.”[2]
In addition, just last week the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there are currently 7,000,000 job openings in this country![3] Also there are only 6.1 million unemployed in the labor pool. Translated, all industries are competing for talent in a labor pool that has more job openings than people to fill open jobs. Further, those companies in the construction industry who do not provide skills training linked to a career path, who hire independent subcontractors instead of employees, will have an increasingly difficult time competing for talent.
Is your company ready for the growing demand for construction services? Has your company built the foundation required that will enable it to flourish and take advantage of this opportunity? More specifically, what is your company doing to attract and develop its craft workforce? If you are unsure of your answers, Construction Career Collaborative (C3) is here to help you with a formula for developing a safe, skilled and sustainable craft workforce.
We provide free consulting services to our C3 Accredited Employers to help them seize this new business opportunity. C3 guides its Accredited Employers through the process of identifying the different occupations in a career path of a particular trade, the competencies that must be mastered in each occupation in order for a craft worker to be eligible to move up to the next level of the career path and the training required for each level of competency.
If you, as a company owner or leader, are unsure about going through this process on your own, C3 currently has eight peer groups of leaders in common trades that meet quarterly to work together and share best practices. Some C3 peer groups are even sharing best practices on how to the convert from a workforce of independent subcontractors to a workforce of employees.
If you, or someone from your organization, would like to learn more, please contact C3 Associate Director, Angela Robbins, at (713) 999-1032 or by email at [email protected].
Don’t get left behind. C3 is here to help create a safe, skilled and sustainable craft workforce for your company and the commercial construction industry. C3.Is.How.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/sageworks/2017/04/09/the-10-fastest-growing-industries-in-the-u-s/#44e3d0b51ef2
[2] “Construction hiring is booming, and there are plenty of available jobs”, MarketWatch, October 8, 2018
[3] United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 18-1875, November 6, 2018
Chuck Gremillion
Executive Director
