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Build U aims to attract younger workforce to construction

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A first-time Springfield Contractors Association program took place earlier this month with the intent of drawing teenagers to jobs in the construction industry.

Build U is a four-day event filled with firsthand learning of numerous trades, job site tours and opportunities to try out job skills such as operating heavy equipment and bending rebar. The program aimed at 15- to 18-year-olds was held Aug. 2-5.

“The expectation was just to expose high school students to the various opportunities towards careers in construction trades,” said Dianna Devore, chair of SCA’s workforce development committee.

SCA Executive Director Megan Short said a maximum of 30 students were allowed any given day of Build U and 36 registered, resulting in a small waiting list. SCA invested roughly $15,000 so the students could attend for free, she said, noting association members made in-kind donations of food, equipment and personal protective equipment.

“It went tremendously well for our first year out,” Devore said. “We were able to expose them to several jobs in the industry that they may or may not have known existed.”

Planting a seed of interest in those about to enter the workforce is vital in the construction industry, Build U organizers say. The average age of a construction worker in 2020 was 42.9 years old, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The need for younger workers is likely to only increase as the baby boomer generation continues to retire.

The aging of the construction workforce is one of the drivers for SCA’s involvement in programs such as Build U and Build My Future, a one-day interactive construction career day for high school students. The fourth annual Build My Future, which was canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled for next spring.

Job opportunities
Short said while both events are designed to spur interest in teens about construction, they aren’t intended to lead to on-the-spot job opportunities.

“If they’re still in high school, we can’t have job offers,” she said of Build U. “That’s never been the primary goal of it.”

That’s not to say jobs aren’t available. According to BLS data, July’s unemployment rate in construction declined to 6.1% from 7.5% in June, as the industry added 11,000 jobs. The U.S. Labor Department reported Aug. 6 the economy generated 943,000 jobs last month, leading the unemployment rate to fall to 5.4% from 5.9% in June. Missouri’s jobless rate was 4.3% in June, the most recent BLS data available.

Available jobs are plentiful at Springfield-based Prestressed Casting Co., said Dave Robertson Jr., vice president of sales. He said the family-owned concrete contractor employs 95 but would like to boost that number by around 50%.

“We would happily be at about 140 right now if we could find the people,” he said. “This year has been very difficult to employ people.”

Prestressed Casting Co. was among companies students visited for Build U. Others included construction company Emery Sapp & Sons and Cardinal Roofing Inc.

Robertson said there are more construction jobs available in the region than he’s seen during his nearly 33 years in the industry.

“I can’t explain it other than people got very used to not working and some people left the workforce because they were able to do so from a retirement standpoint,” he said of the past 18 months since the pandemic arrived.

John Edwards, commercial estimating manager for Fayetteville, Arkansas-based paving contractor APAC-Central Inc., said the company employs around 125 at its Springfield office. Edwards also participated in Build U and is on the workforce development committee with SCA.

“The last few years have been challenging but it’s been a primary focus for us over the past eight months,” he said of boosting APAC’s local employee count. “I would say conservatively we could hire another 20 people and confidently keep them working for the next 18 months.”

Robertson said the work backlog at Prestressed Casting is around eight months.

“I could literally make it twice that long,” he said, noting the company averages 25-30 projects annually. “We’ve just got prospects like crazy. … We’re being very selective right now because of our workforce.”

Both Robertson and Edwards believe getting young skilled workers in the door is a key to future workforce growth for their companies. Build U is a tool that could help that process, Edwards said.

“Part of it is trying to shift that mindset away from being just a job,” Edwards said. “We build careers.”

The SCA program also can dispel misconceptions about the construction industry, Robertson said.

“There’s a misunderstanding about it. We don’t just dig ditches. This industry is vibrant,” he said. “You can’t offshore it. You can’t build a highway in China and bring it here.”

Future plans
Devore, who also is president of structural steel company Design Fabrication Inc., said plans are already in motion for year two of Build U. Short said a survey will be sent to participating businesses to get feedback on any tweaks needed. Students gave positive marks for the program in their post-event survey, she said.

“There are minor things we’ll be making changes to on how to make things flow a little bit better. We are planning on this moving to the original goal of June next year,” Short said, which is intended to tie into when area school districts are holding summer school sessions.

Organizers moved this year’s Build U to August in the hopes that local COVID-19 case totals would be lower.

“Obviously, if we knew then what we know now, we would have left it in June,” Short said, in reference to current Greene County COVID cases, which were at a seven-day average of 126 as of Aug. 11, according to Springfield-Greene County Health Department data.

While both organizers and participants believe Build U fits well into SCA’s workforce development efforts to draw a younger generation into the construction industry, the event’s impact on teens is an unknown, Devore said.

“Whether or not it works, we won’t know until the future when they go into the job market,” she said.

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