Labor Availability and Productivity Forecasting

The idea for this endeavor grew out of concerns surrounding the dramatically increased volume of construction, estimated at more than $20 billion, planned and funded for the Puget Sound region over the next five to ten years. This volume of construction has resulted in a shortage of skilled labor, undesirable competition among local contractors, material shortages, project delays and significant increases in the overall cost of each project. To address these problems, this project develops a comprehensive monitoring system for project procurement practices, manpower supply and demand projections, and a scheduling model for the proposed projects in the Puget Sound region. This comprehensive scheduling model provides contractors and owners with availability and requirements of manpower on a project by project basis for all planned projects above a minimum size. This site analyses and produces actual labor availability projections that are immediately useful to contractors and owners in every area of the country, especially the north west. The website from Phase I of this project demonstrated proof of concept and implementation that can then easily be used to develop (Phase II) a website of national labor supply and demand forecasts, and likely productivity rates specific to future planned projects.