Survey: Labor Shortage in Industrial Construction

The largest expansion in industrial construction in decades is causing a labor shortage, a survey has found. Almost two-thirds of contractors have experienced labor shortages with single or multiple crafts.

The findings come from a study sponsored by construction-industry unions to determine the impact of increased job demand in industrial construction, the 2008 Construction Industry Conditions Survey. The survey, which was sponsored by the Arlington, Va.-based The Association of Union Constructors and the North American Contractors Association, gathered information from more than 200 industrial contractors nationwide on increasing workload and the financial impact.

“The expansion of the industrial construction market is fostering a situation of additional work practices which increase labor costs beyond the contractual wage and fringe rates,” says Robert Gasperow of the Construction Labor Research Council in Washington, D.C.

Among the findings:

• The crafts most likely to be experiencing shortages are boilermakers, pipefitters and ironworkers.

• Nearly half of the contractors use 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 are being made.

• One-third of workers are being given travel payments.

“This survey was conducted in large part to determine the specifics of the labor shortages – not whether or not they were occurring – especially which crafts are being affected in which parts of the country,” says TAUC CEO Steve Lindauer.

Indiana Firm Plans Kentucky Energy-Waste Plant

Indianapolis-based Agresti Biofuels has announced that it will begin contract negotiations with Pike County, Ky., for the first commercial-municipal-solid-waste-to-cellulosic-ethanol production facility in the United States. The facility will process waste materials.

Pike has been searching for an alternative to the landfill nearing capacity it is using. The landfill receives 400 tons of MSW per day; the new plant could process up to 1,500 tons of MSW daily.

The negotiations come amid the announcement that the new United States renewable fuel standards mandate the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022. Attaining that goal will significantly reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil.

The Central Appalachian Ethanol Plant will be located on a 40-acre site owned by Pike County, near its current landfill. The project has engaged Oppenheimer and the RBC Capital Markets Corp. to provide the financing, allowing Agresti to move forward without requiring local, state or federal subsidies.

Agresti Biofuels is also currently in contract negotiations with Lake County, Ind., for a plant.