Construction brings infrastructure and career opportunities
by Sandy Griffis, Executive Director, Yavapai County Contractors Association
Hi – let me introduce you to the construction industry and the folks who grind and labor in it. We live and work in the silhouettes and outlines of Yavapai County-sized skyscrapers known as multi-story buildings; we travel through streets lined with homes and local businesses and buildings under construction. The majority of you probably move through our roads and communities unaware of the vast industry responsible for shaping the environments in which we live and work – the industry that has built America.
Who are the construction folks, you ask, working in a very dynamic segment of our economy?
There are more than 700,000 construction companies in the U.S.
There are over 7.3 million construction employees/workers in the U.S.
There are 37,298 licensed construction companies in Arizona
There are more than 2,000 licensed construction companies in the 863 zip code
Construction is the second largest industry in the U.S. with more than $1 trillion in total volume, accounting for approximately 8 percent of the nation’s GDP. It is the industry responsible for constructing the buildings and infrastructure so vital to the quality of life.
There are many misconceptions about the construction industry. What today’s construction industry is not: artless, basic, boring, unfulfilling, thankless, routine, predictable, unchanging, dull.
In my eyes, the construction industry is interesting, moves at an ever-changing pace, is tricky, challenging, rewarding and well-paid.
Activity in the industry is picking up and has been for sometime. Our industry remains critical to the job market, especially for workers without college degrees.
A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the industry will add 1.6 million jobs through 2022, which is a relatively high growth rate among sectors, but which still would leave total construction employment below housing-bubble peak levels.
Are you aware the construction industry is traditionally divided into three sub-sectors? They are:
- the construction of buildings
- roads, highways, and other infrastructure construction
- specialty trades
You can see that the construction industry is a significant part of our economy; it touches everything from Fain Road, Hwy 89, Hwy 89A, Hwy 69 and all of the arterial roads in our communities. Without construction we would not have airport runways, bridges, and interstate. Every building; our City Hall and Town offices, our schools from PUSD, HUSD, Chino Valley, our churches and synagogues, Sprouts, Safeway, Trader Joes, our homes, movie theaters, restaurants from El Gato to The Barley Hound to St. Michaels, hotels from our Hampton Inns to Marriott Courtyard to SpringHill Suites and the Hassayampa Inn.
Are you aware that concrete has been important to construction for centuries, going back to 3,000 B.C. Without it, very few construction projects could be started and completed. In the U.S., concrete as a construction material made its debut with the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, the first shipment of Portland cement into the country in 1868, and the opening of the first Portland cement plant three years later in 1871.
Just like our life, we have a lot of years we can see in the rearview mirror, and we need to keep looking ahead and that is what the construction industry is doing. We are going to see more collaborative approaches for projects such as design-build, public-private partnerships and integrated project delivery.
The labor shortage is at epidemic proportions. Our local contractors are extremely concerned about the lack of skilled labor, and many local contractors are struggling to staff their businesses.
This lack of workforce started after a huge massive employment labor force left the industry for other jobs during the recession when work disappeared from 2006-2010. The industry lost close to 50 percent of its workforce and it has not returned. The dwindling labor pool is leading to longer delays in project schedules, and construction costs will rise due to materials and labor.
The construction industry is a terrific opportunity and offers well-paying jobs. And we have lots of jobs available in Yavapai County. There is, and will be, a continuing demand for construction industry workers – there are excellent employment opportunities because the number of job openings will exceed the number of qualified individuals seeking to enter the occupation.
Where would we be without construction?
