While the unemployment rate in America has decreased since the start of the year, there are still some sectors struggling to meet demand. Job gains increased in professional and business services, as well as leisure and hospitality; healthcare also saw an improvement.
A Race to Meet Demand
However, all is not well in the construction market. While other sectors are seemingly able to employ qualified people with the skill set needed, that is not the case in the construction market. While the good news is that In the past month, 13,000 jobs were added to the construction market, that is just a dent in what is needed. The demand for work that needs to be done is quickly outpacing the workers with the experience to do it.
In 22 years, the unemployment rate among people looking for work who actually have construction experience has dropped to its lowest level. In the past month alone, there was an almost 4% drop in job seekers with the necessary skills to do construction work.
While gains were made in the way of employment in the nonresidential (general building contractors, specialty trade contractors, heavy and civil engineering) side of construction, employment in residential construction (homebuilders, multifamily general contractors, and residential specialty trade contractors) dropped by over 4,000 people.
What This Means
What this means for the nation is a need to attract more people to the construction industry. As a result, campaign efforts are now underway to target more workers in this sector of the market. At the same time, workforce retention programs are also in full force. Culture of Care is a campaign inspired by the Construction Association in an effort to build a work culture that is diverse, safe, welcoming, and inclusive—free from harassment, hazing, and bullying.
Culture of Care Pledge:
“I believe that every individual has the right to work in an environment that is free from harassment, hazing and bullying. I will do my part to build a culture that is diverse, safe, welcoming and inclusive by taking action to ensure that unwelcome, offensive, discriminatory or harassing language and/or behavior is not tolerated in my workplace.”
The Culture of Care Pledge is one that every employee agrees to commit, attract, retain, and empower.
Commit: Workers should be hired based on their skills and experience. Nothing else (age, ability, ethnicity, nationality, race, sexual orientation, sex, religion, or gender identity) should be a factor.
Attract: The best way to attract skilled and experienced workers is to ensure the workplace is inclusive of everyone and free from harassment, hazing or bullying.
Retain: All workers currently in the construction industry should have equal opportunities to advance without any barriers.
Empower: Every worker should feel compelled to promote an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion.
As the campaign forges ahead, the construction industry is working equally hard to recruit as many people as possible in competitive-paying positions throughout the industry. Even as some feel the exposure to the industry is not as prevalent as in years past, as a viable career choice, they have their jobs cut out for them to reverse the narrative.