Of the 393,000 long-tenured construction workers who lost their jobs between 2011 and 2013, 62% of them have since found new jobs in the industry, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics detailed in an article at Equipment World.
The government reported that 6% of returning construction workers had part-time jobs, and 10% are either self-employed or are unpaid family workers.
At the same time, the construction industry is facing a shortage of skilled labor. A survey by The Associated General Contractors of America and SmartBrief found that 63% of U.S. construction firms didn’t have as many skilled workers as they’d like, and that 30% of the companies were forced to turn down work because of it.
Among the hardest skilled positions to fill are carpenters and general laborers.
The recession was tough on the industry. New-house starts plummeted as credit dried up and a total of 2 million workers left the industry between 2007 and 2011, the article said. The construction industry has been adding workers for the last seven months and now employs a total of about 6 million people, an increase of 609,000 since January 2011. The unemployment rate in the industry is now 7.5% after hitting 27% in February 2010.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 40% of those returning to work are now making as much as or more than they were before; another 22% said they were making about the same to 20% more, and 18% said their paychecks had gone up by 20% or more.
But some 30% of those returning to work are making less.
“While the industry can definitely be encouraged by rehiring so many of the skilled workers it lost as a result of the economic downturn, the fact that so many of those workers are now earning less than they did before should be an area of concern moving forward,” Equipmment World said.
Many of the skilled construction workers who lost their jobs as a result of the recession have been rehired. Some are earning more than they were before, but nearly a third say they are earning less.