Dive Brief:
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Almost a third of construction personnel executives said their companies are facing slow growth because they struggle to meet their need for skilled labor and trades.
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A new report from investment banking and management consulting firm FMI revealed that the firms will need to bulk up their crews by at least 10% over the next three to 10 years. By 2017, the industry will need an additional 8,500 craft workers, FMI Director Ken Wilson said.
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The most dire need is for heavy-equipment operators, welders, carpenters, ironworkers and pipefitters, the report said.
Dive Insight:
The Craft Labor Recruiting and Retention survey placed much of the blame for construction’s growing labor shortage squarely on the oil and gas industry, which it said will skim 10% of the construction workforce within the next three years.
In response, the report noted, 65% of the construction personnel managers in the survey plan to bring in-house some of the work it typically would sub out to trades.