According to the latest national survey by the Associated General Contractors of America, 69 percent of U.S. firms polled said they are having a hard time filling some hourly craft positions. That number is down from 79 percent in 2015.
The AGC survey included 1,459 responses and found that carpenter remains the position most firms, 60 percent, are finding hardest to fill. That’s down from last year’s survey which found 73 percent of responding firms struggling to fill that position.
Electricians (53 percent), roofers, plumbers (both at 50 percent) and concrete workers (49 percent) round out the top five hardest-to-fill positions.
The AGC survey found that craft worker shortages are the most severe in the Midwest, where 77 percent of contractors are having a hard time filling those positions. Meanwhile, 74 percent of contractors in the South, 71 percent in the West and 57 percent in the Northeast reported the same difficulty.
Despite the decline in the number of firms reporting trouble, the fact remains that nearly two-thirds of all U.S. firms are struggling to find enough skilled workers as the rebounding construction industry is experiencing demand it hasn’t seen in nearly a decade. Sixty-six percent of firms surveyed told the AGC that they plan on hiring more hourly craft workers in the next 12 months due to increased demand.
“These shortages have the potential to undermine broader economic growth by forcing contractors to slow scheduled work or choose not to bid on projects, thereby inflating the cost of construction,” said AGC chief executive officer Stephen Sandherr in a prepared statement.
