Tag: jobs: Page 15

Workforce

Facing $9 billion in demand, Iowa contractors feel impact of skilled labor shortage

Add Iowa to a growing list of states struggling to meet rebounding construction demand due to a shortage of skilled laborers. According to a report from the Des Moines Register, contractors in Iowa have reported shortages of equipment operators, steel workers, carpenters, supervisors and concrete workers. These companies expect those shortages to deepen in the coming […]

June 3, 2013

Workforce

Lack of skilled construction workers and technicians could choke off economic recovery

Goldman Sachs today released a report naming the 40 stocks it thinks will boom in the coming months. Not surprising, the list was dominated by gas, oil and energy companies: 18 out of the 40 to be exact. Two mining companies were in the mix as well, as were Cummins and Goodyear. The technical advancements […]

May 7, 2013

Business

Construction unemployment rate drops despite losing 6k jobs in April

After riding a four-month streak of employment gains to the highest total employment the industry had seen in nearly four years, the construction industry lost 6,000 jobs in April, according to new data from the U.S. Labor Department. Despite the loss of jobs, the industry’s unemployment rate continued to fall, dipping to 13.2 percent. The […]

May 3, 2013

Business

U.S. needs to “Think Big” like Germany if it wants to escape construction, technician labor shortage

Contractors and equipment dealers struggling to find a solution to the shortage of trained technicians in the United States, need look no further than Germany for an example of how to do it right. The German Engineering Federation, VDMA, last month bussed in more than 10,000 teens to participate in Bauma 2013 and a program […]

May 3, 2013

Workforce

Washington Post: Housing hasn’t led to hiring boom because construction jobs already historically high

Though construction industry employment in the U.S. is steadily improving—adding 18,000 jobs in March amid a dreary overall jobs report—the numbers don’t match the boom the housing market is seeing. This has a lot of people searching for an answer. Recently, we shared with you one interesting theory from the Washington Post’s Neil Irwin. Irwin, […]

April 10, 2013

Workforce

Construction adds 18k to workforce amid weak jobs report

Though industry growth slowed considerably month-to-month, by adding 18,000 jobs in March, construction continued its streak of job growth, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Labor Department. Construction’s unemployment rate dropped to its lowest rate since 2008 to 14.7 percent. In January, the unemployment was at 15.1 percent. March’s tally is just under one-fourth […]

April 5, 2013

Roadbuilding

Transportation experiences 28,000-job loss in March

Despite a decrease in national unemployment, the transportation sector experienced a decrease of 28,000 jobs in March, The Hill reported. Transportation employment decreased from 4,469,900 in February to 4,467,100 in March, marking the fourth consecutive month of transportation job losses. Transit and ground transportation saw the highest number of gains in March, with 470,300 jobs […]

April 5, 2013

Business

Construction jobs limited to 15k visas per year under new guest worker agreement

The path toward a final deal on immigration reform has likely been cleared now that the country’s business and labor unions have reached an agreement on a guest worker program for immigrants. The New York Times reports that on Friday Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, held a conference call with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President […]

April 1, 2013

Business

Smart, skilled class of contractors necessary to navigate worst recovery in modern history

In this era of partisan news both sides will spin any facts any way to make their side look better. So getting any kind of macro-level read on the real state of the economy is difficult if not impossible. But from what I’ve seen with my own two eyes and heard with my own two […]

March 26, 2013

Workforce

Why construction unions are wrong in fighting immigration reform

Ah politics! Strange bedfellows. Even stranger enemies. One would think the universal brotherhood of union workers would welcome with solidarity the teeming masses from south of the border. But that is certainly not the case if those Hispanic workers have construction skills. Buzzfeed Politics is reporting that the AFL-CIO in the pending immigration bill is […]

March 26, 2013

Workforce

The 10 Best Construction Jobs

As we discussed yesterday, construction hiring isn’t exactly growing as quickly as we’d all like it to be. But the fact of the matter is, it is growing and there are still quite a few jobs to be had out there. But as U.S. News and World Report recently pointed out, you need experience. With […]

March 22, 2013

Workforce

Why isn’t construction hiring booming like housing? Hoarding.

Citing a phenomenon that might not make much sense to those outside of the industry, Neil Irwin took to the Washington Post’s Workblog recently to discuss why construction job growth, though recovering, isn’t quite matching the numbers of the booming housing market. Just yesterday we reported that the annual rate on home starts grew in […]

March 21, 2013