Two-thirds of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the nation’s construction workforce, according to the results of an industry-wide survey released Aug. 31 by the Associated General Contractors of America.          

“AGC officials said that many firms are changing the way they pay and operate to cope, but warned that labor shortages could undermine broader economic growth and called for new workforce measures to improve the pipeline for recruiting and training new craft workers.

“With the construction industry in most of the country now several years into a recovery, many firms have gone from worrying about not having enough work to not having enough workers,” said Stephen Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors. “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.”

Following are some highlights of the survey, which was  conducted in July and August and had 1,459 respondents.                   

•Difficulty filling hourly craft positions was reported by 69 percent of respondents.

•Craft worker shortages are the most severe in the Midwest, where 77 percent of contractors are having a hard time filling those positions. The region is followed by the South where 74 percent of contractors are having a hard time finding craft workers, 71 percent in the West and 57 percent in the South.

•For the Midwest region, contractors in the survey report that among the top positions they’re “having trouble filling” include: carpenters (68 percent); concrete workers (54 percent); bricklayers (53 percent); drywall installers (53 percent), and laborers (50 percent). But most of the rest of the trades aren’t far behind, with electricians, iron workers, pipe fitters/welders, cement masons, sheet metal workers, heavy equipment operators, plumbers and roofers all in the 40 percent range. Slightly less in demand among Midwest contractors were painters (31 percent) and millwrights (28 percent).

•The labor shortages come as demand for construction continues to grow. The AGC said that construction employment expanded in 239 out of 358 metro areas that the association tracks between July 2015 and July 2016. Growing demand for construction workers, the AGC said, helps explain why 75 percent of firms report it will continue to be hard, or get harder, to find hourly craft workers this year.

•Tight labor market conditions are prompting nearly half of construction firms to increase base pay rates for craft workers because of the difficulty in filling positions. Twenty-two percent of responding contractors say they have improved employee benefits for craft workers and 20 percent report they are providing incentives and bonuses to attract workers.

•How are they coping? Forty-eight percent of firms report they are doing more in-house training,while 47 percent report they are increasing overtime hours and 39 percent are increasing their use of subcontractors.

In addition, 37 percent report getting involved with career-building programs in local schools. Twenty-one percent report they are increasing their use of labor-saving equipment, 13 percent are using offsite prefabrication and 7 percent are using virtual construction methods like Building Information Modeling.