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Where did the construction workers go? (www.npr.org)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by stepan@lemmy.ca to c/mensliberation@lemmy.ca
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The gist of it: with each passing decade there's a growing shortage of construction laborers, resulting in large wait times for housing to be built. Some analysts wonder why the key demographic isn't showing up.

I've seen a few articles in the past few years about young men supposedly checking out of society and work, I wonder if there is a connection between that and this article here because young men tend to be the prime demographic for working this job.

Companies need to pay their workers better.

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[-] jadero@lemmy.ca 53 points 11 months ago

I can't speak to the general problem, but I can tell you why I left construction and manual labour more generally.

A lot of the work is still as damaging to the body as it was in 1930.

Toxic coworkers enabled and even encouraged by psychopathic supervisors.

Safety is not only not built in to procedures, but actively mocked and even deliberately worked around, even when doing so slows things down.

And all that for less than double minimum wage for experienced workers when it used to be easily triple minimum wage to start.

[-] dumples@kbin.social 18 points 11 months ago

Exactly. It's not worth the strain on the body for the pay.

[-] Huxleywaswrite@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

I'm still am apprentice, and I already make more than I ever did in my first career (20 years as a chef). Journeyman rates are over $40/ hour and once you included insurance and retirement theyre around $80/ hour. Oh and were among the lower paid locals in our state.

I walked off a jobsite because they failed to provide us with safe conditions, had the safety officer on site that day, had the local union officers follow up, contractors apologized fixed the conditions and paid me for my missed time.

If you let them joke about it, they will. If you make them follow it, they will. Safety starts and ends with you brother.

[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Most construction jobs are not unionized like yours.

I refused to do a job because it was unsafe, and mysteriously found my hours cut to almost nothing shortly after. From 60+ hr weeks to <10.

[-] Huxleywaswrite@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

All the more reason to go join a union

[-] Zevlen@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yep 😊👍 ... worked many job sites, never bumped into OSHA. Maybe I was supposed to report the unsafe work environment / employer? shrug

[-] alvvayson@lemmy.world 41 points 11 months ago

Spending 5 minutes on Google shows that the number of construction workers is at all time highs.

It's just that a hot economy requires even more labour.

My 2 cents, the economy could use a rebalancing by raising wages and reducing profits a bit.

If salaries of construction workers get raised from $40K to $50K, then the number of openings will go down and the remaining workers can focus on the more important work while getting a better wage.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago

reducing profits a bit

This man wants shareholders to starve! How can you provide for your family if you can only afford a 60' yacht instead of 70'??

[-] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 15 points 11 months ago

What a fucking socialist piece of shit they are, if they wanted to be paid well they should have thought of that when being born a poor

[-] guyrocket@kbin.social 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

from $40K to $50K

I don't know what construction wkrs make but I think this should be a LOT higher. 50K starting and topping out around 100k.

[-] Huxleywaswrite@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

If you go union those rares are a lot higher

[-] alvvayson@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Perhaps, those are the BLS figures from 2023.

[-] guyrocket@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

Interesting, Thanks.

[-] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 30 points 11 months ago

Each generation tells the next that college is needed even more these days, unless you want to be a trash collector or construction worker. That, along with the getting worse pay and body damaging labor, adds up fast.

[-] Huxleywaswrite@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

It is exactly this. We're trying to recruit hard too, which is working. My local can take about 50 apprentices a year. Between job fairs and school presentations we had 700 apply this year, which is awesome, but way more than we can handle at once.

There is great money to be made in the trades, and joining a union is the absolute best way to do it.

[-] TheTetrapod@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

This is why I never really went for the trades. It always seemed like winning the lottery to get an apprenticeship, at least in a large city.

[-] Huxleywaswrite@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It's really not. If there's a long wait then you apply for the apprenticeship and while you wait ask if they have any other training programs, most of them do, or go work non union while you wait to get in. Gaining experience will help you move up the list and you'll be starting in no time. I had absolutely 0 construction experience and waited less than a year to start in the 3rd largest city in our state.

[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Depends on the trade. I've worked with a bunch in my area.

Elevators, building engineers? You gotta know somebody. Laborers union? You ain't Latino, you ain't getting in. Electricians, welders? You don't have to know someone, but it sure helps if you do. Also if you're white.

Oh, and No Girls Allowed, so there goes 50% of your potential recruits.

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[-] Zevlen@beehaw.org 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Ex construction worker here. I did HVAC installation for 6 years and worked as an apprentice electrician for two. This is in California(SoCal;southern California). I didn't get any health insurance benefits. Also I wasn't in a union of any kind. The work is demanding; the pay was ok. There's a lot of toxic Mother Fuckers in construction, besides your boss I mean. I also felt that there wasn't many trade schools to go to and they were not easy to find. I went to get a certificate in an electrician course and found out that the certificate ( which I didn't even get, because I didn't show up on the last day (came to get it multiple times after with no luck)) that they were giving out didn't even mean shit really. I always felt there's not enough clear information on how to climb the ladder if you wanted to get accredited education in construction. Unless You went to LA TRADE TECH college (Los Angeles) . Or if you didn't get a job at LADWP, your skills and knowledge didn't offer You any good jobs. I worked private sector jobs and got my knowledge from; (basically) an online school ( penn foster ) .

Anyways 🤨 I just always felt that the state didn't provide enough information on how to climb the ladder in your career, where to go get certification that was accredited ETC.

We really need some bad ass trade schools (out here) that aren't for profit. And clear information on how to get licensed in different trades.

That's my two cents

Edit; let me add this; to me it feels like the government can be shortcited. They didn't invest in training 😕 new generation of trade workers IMHO ; and now they're like; "oh shit!"

For profit; "everything", makes life shit. (Pardon my French and also the terrible use of English grammar)

[-] dumples@kbin.social 25 points 11 months ago

All of the workers shortages always come down to the same things. Money for the workers which have been sacrificed for the business to be as profitable as other businesses. I know that for something like construction this can only be done by skimping on quality or screwing over workers.

[-] ShaggyBlarney@lemmy.ca 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Why not both!? I can maximize my profits by producing the skimpiest, leakiest, shittiest micro condos (charged out at the most luxurious of prices) and also shaft my overworked, overextended, undersupported workforce (preferably foriegn, marginalized and/or vulnerable)! /s

[-] vlad76 21 points 11 months ago

Maybe they need to get paid more.

[-] ArtyTester@artemis.camp 19 points 11 months ago

No that couldn’t be it! Why wouldn’t someone want to work at a job that tears your body up so hard that many die within a couple years if retiring?

[-] Meuzzin@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

Most companies pay pretty good where I am. The issue is the culture, as someone else pointed out. Especially in Residential...

As far as "It's hard on the body", it really isn't, if the management, and your co-workers support a safe environment, and provide what you need. Again, that comes down to the culture.

This is one of the many reasons why Unions should be priority fucking one, in any workplace.

[-] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago

The issue is the culture

You can say that again...

Especially where I'm from, there's a lot of corruption in construction. A lot of them will steal stuff and not even feel bad about it, proud even.

And this corruption goes all the way to the top at the provincial government level.

[-] drewdarko@kbin.social 7 points 11 months ago

No one seems to be paying attention to the fact that technology has added a lot of new career fields over the last few decades.

If you add a new career field like software engineer or fiber optics service technician and your work force stays relatively the same size then you will divide up your workforce over a greater number of professions. Leaving less workers to be carpenters, plumbers and electricians.

[-] Rocket@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Similar to why women started entering the workforce when they did. The technology created new jobs that needed more people.

[-] streetfestival@lemmy.ca 4 points 11 months ago

Please consider updating the post URL to link to the actual content providers: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1158576556/where-did-the-workers-go-construction-jobs-are-plentiful-but-workers-are-scarce

[-] stepan@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 months ago

Ok I think it's fixed

[-] streetfestival@lemmy.ca 4 points 11 months ago

You're the best, thanks!

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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
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