What's Wrong with Working in Construction? How Image and Diversity Issues are Affecting the Shortage of Skilled Labor

The construction industry is facing an unprecedented, nationwide shortage of skilled labor. Construction is the second largest employer in the country and according to a Construction Industry Institute study 75% of contractors are experiencing labor shortages that are manifesting themselves as cost overruns and/or schedule delays. This crisis has been a long time coming and our current culture has not helped the problem. Young people who don't go to college are seen as "failures," and fewer native-born Americans want to work with their hands, outdoors—at any wage. In fact a group of high school students surveyed about attractive careers listed construction 498^th out of 500 possible occupations. Not only does construction have an image problem, but also the workforce composition of the future is largely minority and women, a challenge for an industry that is dominantly and traditionally white male. In order to face this labor shortage head on, the industry must swallow a bitter pill — Change or continue to accept increases in project cost and duration. In response to this challenge, several contractors and construction entities have begun to develop innovative new programs to recruit more individuals to the construction trades, including charter schools, community outreach and active participation in high school career guidance by apprenticeship programs. More construction companies are realizing that diversity practices add economic value to their customers. They are establishing mentoring programs for minority and women contractors and employing consulting firms to assist them in acquiring these new cultural competencies. Other firms are focusing their efforts on creating a working atmosphere that embraces a diverse workforce, complete with worker training on how to effectively deal with the changing workplace culture. What positive effects are these approaches having on the overall problem? Should these individual efforts to improve the image of construction and its thrust for diversity be aligned? This paper will attempt to highlight the successes that some programs have achieved and what new innovations they invoked in their endeavors. Additionally, it will address areas where the efforts could successfully be combined.