Trump infrastructure program could lack adequate numbers

Experts: Qualified skilled labor aging

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

President Donald Trump’s proposed 10-year, $1.5 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure has left state and local officials with lots of questions, chief among them how they will provide the vast majority of non-federal money the program requires.

But there’s another lingering question: Does the U.S. have the skilled labor force to carry out a massive public works project rebuilding roads, bridges sewer systems and other public facilities? That answer is equally unclear.

Some workforce experts say the existing skilled labor pool is aging and struggling to meet demand as a result of massive defections after the 2008 recession, when spending for public and private construction projects slowed down dramatically. They say it can be difficult to find young people willing to go into skilled trades rather than college and those that do sometimes have problems passing drug tests, showing up on time and working hard.

“It’s finding qualified people,” said Pete Gum, president of the Pittsburgh area chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors Inc, which represents 160 companies in this region and 21,000 nationally.

“No one wants to bust their butts anymore. It’s the No. 1 issue we hear from contractors — finding people who are willing to work.”

But trade unions, which often provide free apprenticeship programs, say for generations they have been able to develop the workforce to meet the country’s needs. They see no reason why that won’t happen again.

“When we see the work coming, we bring more people in for training,” said Ken Broadbent, business manager for Steamfitters Local 449 who oversees the $18.5 million training center the union opened a year ago in Harmony. “We’ve done it for 60 years. We’re bringing in three times as many people as we did 10 years ago.”

Major construction projects such as the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, the Southern Beltway on the Allegheny-Washington county border and UPMC’s multiple hospital projects have created a strong market for skilled laborers in this region, Mr. Broadbent said.

Nationally, two surveys in the past three years by Associated General Contractors of America have found contractors having problems filling jobs, sometimes to the point where they won’t bid on jobs because they fear not having enough workers available. In August, 70 percent of those surveyed said they had problems finding workers in the previous year.

“We do, as an industry, have some significant shortages of construction workers available,” said AGCA spokesman Brian Turmail. “Contractors don’t want to have ‘no’ in their vocabularies. What’s really happening is companies are hiring people they wouldn’t have hired before and there’s a lot more on-the-job training.”

The Trump administration’s infrastructure proposal would be good for contractors, Mr. Turmail said, but worker training needs to be a major part of the plan.

“We need to find ways to get more people into the workforce,” he said.

Bob Latham, executive vice president of Associated Pennsylvania Constructors, said industry needs to do more to promote the positive aspects of a career in construction. The group represents bridge and highway contractors.

“There is definitely a shortfall in the available workforce should a trillion-dollar infrastructure project move ahead,” he said. “When you can make $40,000-$45,000 a year in a warehouse job, some people don’t want to work outside and make $60,000 or $65,000.

“We have to find other ways to be attractive to more people.”

As president of the Pennsylvania Building & Construction Trades Council based in Harrisburg, Frank Sirianni oversees trade union apprentice programs funded by workers and construction companies that will train 14,000 workers this year at a cost of $250 million. He conceded that due to the 2008 economic downturn and an aging workforce “there’s a little bit of a lack of qualified workers,” but he expects to be able to fill any needs.

“We have a pretty good system of working with the companies to train as many people as they need,” he said. “These are good careers, especially if you’re in a union position.”

Mr. Broadbent said apprentices at the Steamfitters center start the four-year program at $18 an hour with full benefits and receive 10 percent raises each year until they complete the program.

Since they usually come to the program with some previous training through high school career training programs, community colleges or private technical schools, they usually work at construction sites four days a week and receive classroom and training center instruction the fifth day.

Steamfitters can perform a variety of work including welding, refrigeration, refrigeration, heating and cooling systems, computer drafting and industrial instrumentation.

Richard Barcaskey, executive director of Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania, said the construction industry has “a

communication problem” when it approaches high school students. He uses several appeals when he’s recruiting to encourage students to consider careers in road construction: paid training, strong middle-class wages and the lack of years of college debts.

“There are still a lot of parents who think you go into a technical career when you can’t go to college,” he said. “When I talk to students, I always tell them the story of what happens when we have a class of heavy equipment operators. Six months after they start, the parking lot is full of brand new pickup trucks.

“Not many of their friends who go to college can say that.”