Builder News This Skills Gap Is Hurting America’s Housing Market Chris Terrill | Fortune Magazine We’ve heard plenty about America’s skills gap across the tech industry, but a skills gap is also hobbling construction — and it’s delaying building projects, shrinking building inventories, and inflating the cost of homes and home-related projects. The knowledge and skills necessary to repair our toilets, install our furnaces and build our houses are dying on the vine. And, unless we want our grandkids growing up in primeval teepees, we need to work quickly to fix it. This trend has been building up for years. In the 1990s, the American educational system (no doubt with the best of intentions) discontinued vocational classes and began to encourage all students to pursue a four-year college degree, creating significant, if unintended, consequences. First, fewer students were exposed to career options in the skilled labor trades. Second, the profound emphasis placed on college-level education perpetuated the notion that skilled (i.e., blue-collared) labor entails physically demanding, yet mindless work. And third, industry succession responsibilities were transferred to business owners lacking the time and resources required to fully train and educate would-be workers. The shortage worsened in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, when the dark days of the housing crisis led the construction industry to lose more than 60% of its workforce to healthier industries, according to the U.S. Labor Statistics and Census Bureaus. That’s more than any other nonfarm industry in the United States. READ MORE ANNOUNCING the arrival of our new 8-story BOOMTRUCK CONNECTICUT - East Haven - Manchester - Newtown SANDY HOOK - 2 Turnberry Lane - 203-426-0030 NEW YORK - Millwood • Mold / Mildew Resistant Board • Fire Rated Board • ½” Light Weight Board • Exterior Sheathing • Metal Studs • Acoustical Ceiling Tile 16 | HBRA of Fairfield County | May 2016
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