Dive summary:

• Nearly three-quarters – 74% – of construction companies are having trouble getting the qualified craft workers they need, they told Associated General Contractors when the organization surveyed the industry.
• The results come from about 700 participants, and AGC said it got the biggest responses from 15 states, but officials said the problem is clear when contractors are trying to find both onsite crafts and labor and when they try to fill professional positions such as supervisors and engineers.
• Eighty-six percent of the companies taking part in the survey said they think it will stay hard to find the workers they need or get even harder, and AGC took that as an opportunity to urge changes in proposed immigration reform and education in schools directed at construction careers.

From the release:

[AGC CEO Stephen E. Sandherr] noted that 48 percent of responding firms are mentoring future craft workers, 38 percent are participating in career fairs and 33 percent are supporting high school-level construction skills academies. ...