3Q Cost Report - Worker Gaps in South Push up Costs
Keeping construction projects staffed in fast-growing southeastern states has never been easy. But that is proving tough now, and could be a lot tougher later, with still unmet building needs from recent hurricanes and demand for craft labor to meet industrial growth plans in the region, particularly in power. That is translating into higher labor costs for crafts and other skills.
Owners already affiliated with Cincinnati-based Construction Users Roundtable began to realize their looming labor shortage situation in 2005, based on research by Birmingham-based utility Southern Co. It hosted a forum last October, initiated by the Associated Maintenance Contractors and the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept., to discuss a problem that no longer could be ignored.