Construction wages rose sharply in the past three years, and market indicators portend that labor will be a long-term constraint on the growth of the industry, according to a new report. Gordian, provider of data-driven solutions for all phases of the building lifecycle, collaborated with ConstructConnect to produce a construction labor outlook report, “The Great Adaptation: Navigating the New Construction Labor Pool.”
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction labor pool has experienced a seismic shift,” says Sam Giffin, Gordian’s director of data operations and co-author of the report. “Organizations now find themselves hiring a different group of laborers, with different expectations and different skill sets.”
Key findings:
- Construction wages rose an average of 20 percent from 2021 to 2023.
- Two major changes in construction labor dynamics at the federal level will compound increasing cost structures in 2024 and beyond.
- Construction trade wages in the continental U.S. have been rising at a much higher rate in traditionally low-cost areas.
- As a result of the economy’s initial COVID shutdown in early 2020, over one million Baby Boomers, many with decades of work experience, permanently left the workforce.
The report contains cutting-edge data, expert analysis, and provides five specific strategies for how businesses can adapt to these new construction labor dynamics. For more, visit www.gordian.com.