BUILDER NEWS What Young Adults Think of the Construction Trades betwMost young adults een the ages of 18 and 25 say the two most important benefits of a career in the construction trades are good pay (80%) and learning useful skills (74%), according to a recent poll of this age group conducted by NAHB. Only 15% cite seasonal work as a benefit, while a modest 37% rate it as an advantage that this field does not require a college degree. The vast majority of those surveyed, 74%, say they already know the field in which they want to have a career. Meanwhile, the 26% of respondents who do not yet know the career path they want to take got a follow-up question about the chance they might consider a number of fields (construction trades being one of them) using a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 meant “no chance no matter the pay” and 5 meant a “very good chance if the pay is high.” Construction trades got an average rating of 2.1, with 63% of undecided young adults rating it 1 or 2 (no or little chance regardless of pay) and 18% a 4 or 5 (good to very good chance if pay is high). Distracted Driving a Serious Matter problem.Whether the driver is off-the-clock or on the job, Distracted Driving is a growing The National Safety Council estimates that in 2016, roughly 40,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes — the highest total in nine years and an alarming 14% increase from just two years ago. “From an insurance industry perspective, distracted driving is the No. 1 issue for automobile safety, as the vast majority of people admit they frequently drive while talking on the phone, texting, eating, or doing any number of other activities,” says Bill Schaffner, director of risk management for Builders Mutual Insurance Company. Schaffner suggests that more employers should be mindful of how often their workers are potentially distracted while operating company vehicles and heavy equipment. 26 HBRA of Fairfield County | MAY 2017
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