Union Group Gauges Costs Of Recent Labor Shortages

The largest expansion in the industrial construction market in decades recently prompted union construction interests to study the impact of increased

The largest expansion in the industrial construction market in decades recently prompted union construction interests to study the impact of increased job demand and costs related to forecasted labor shortages. The 2008 Construction Industry Conditions Survey, sponsored by The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) and North American Contractors Association (NACA), gathered information from more than 200 industrial contractors regarding the escalating workload and its financial impact.

The expansion of the industrial construction market is fostering a situation of additional work practices that increase labor costs beyond the contractual wage and fringe rates. As a result, traditional measures of labor costs and labor cost escalation are excluding a sometimes significant component of current labor expenditures, said Robert Gasperow of the Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC).

The survey results were released at the 2008 TAUC Leadership Conference. The most notable finding was that two-thirds of craft workers have experienced labor shortages in some form or another. According to the survey results:

  • Almost two-thirds of contractors have experienced labor shortages with single or multiple crafts;
  • The crafts most likely to be experiencing shortages are boilermakers, pipefitters, and ironworkers;
  • Nearly half of the contractors utilize an extended work schedule;
  • Almost half of the contractors have a work schedule of more than 40 hours per week;
  • Two-thirds reported working their crews five days a week;
  • A variety of supplemental payments is being made, which is outlined in the report;
  • One-third of workers are being given travel payments