Challenges in the skilled worker shortage in construction sector
The most common lament in the construction sector always is the continued impact of the skilled worker shortage.
Construction managers are constantly looking for skilled labour professionals but that for them is the most challenging, they say. These workers, namely masons, tillers, painters, carpenters, bar-benders, welders, plumbers, riggers, etc are hard to come by in the industry.
Many jobs remain vacant for weeks resulting in construction project delays and what’s significant is that despite today’s high unemployment rate, skilled workers are in high demand in the construction staffing market where construction companies are struggling to find workers at all levels to properly staff their teams.
How all this started was when the end of the 3 decades- long civil war in 2009 gave way to a record boom in infrastructure development, resulting in the construction industry growing by 39.3 per cent in 2012 against 12 per cent growth in 2009. This rise in construction activities in the coun- try has led to demands for a larger, more skilled and more productive labour workforce to deliver projects of increasing scale and complexity, within the expected standards of quality and timelines. "The overwhelming, number one issue is access to skilled labour," an engineer said.
The construction industry is not only in buildings. It involves many other types of work aside from the building process, such as painting, landscaping, electrical supply, telecommunications, plastering and paving, etc.
All these types of work make up one industry, but each of them involves distinctive exposure and also is exposed to health hazards that deter those aspiring to enter this sector, an industry analyst said. “Poor industry image, tough working conditions, and the industry’s perceived poor safety record also have contributed to the decline in the number of people willing to enter and remain in the industry,” the analyst added.
“Construction workers are exposed to a wide variety of health hazards at work. The exposure differs from job to job,” agrees a CEO of a construction firm.
The total value of work undertaken by the local contractors has increased from about Rs. 15 billion in 1995 to over Rs. 200 billion in 2015. According the ‘Economic and Social Statistics of Sri Lanka 2015’ published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka the percentage of the labour force in construction has risen from 7.2 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
Yet despite this rise in the construction labour force compared to the total labour force in Sri Lanka, a relative increase in skilled craftspeople has not occurred, the CEO said.
“The scarcity of skilled labour and the increasing construction demand is driving up build-out costs and prolonging project schedules,” he said.
Some builders are guaranteeing 10 or 12 hours of overtime a week for electricians, dry wall installers, carpenters, sheet metal workers and others for the duration of a project. Some are even putting skilled workers on the permanent payroll as highpaid staff members in order to keep busy construction crews fully manned. Mega Kularatne, Director Maga Engineering Ltd agrees that in his company this is done.
During a recent survey conducted, most of the contractors and consultants interviewed identified the “inadequate number of trained personnel coming out from training institutions and joining the labour market” as the number one factor for the shortage of skilled labour.
In Sri Lanka the training of construction industry craftsmen is mostly carried out by several training institutions, which belong to the public and private sector. The public sector training institutions are the Vocational Training Authority ( VTA), National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority ( NAITA), Department of Technical Education and Training (DTET), and the Institute of Construction Training and Development (ICTAD). These training institutions have claimed that the problem is not the capacity of the institutions to provide training (which is able to accommodate up to 10,000 craftsmen and technicians) but their inability to attract youth for the training programmes available.
Many jobs remain vacant for weeks resulting in construction project delays and what’s significant is that despite today’s high unemployment rate, skilled workers are in high demand in the construction staffing market where construction companies are struggling to find workers at all levels to properly staff their teams.