40% of the work force in the construction industry were eliminated between 2006 and 2011; nearly 2.3 million jobs. Qualified labor fled the construction market during the recession and subsequent years of struggle. As the industry rebounds workers are not flooding back. Especially missing from the market is skilled craft labor. Home builders simply cannot find the qualified workers needed to start new projects.

The Associated General Contractors of America report that 84% of construction firms are struggling to find enough carpenters, laborers, and equipment operators. ACG Chief Economist Ken Simonson told Jeffrey Sparshott of The Wall Street Journal that “the combination of having had this massive long exodus, a late pick up in hiring and now this greatly diminished pool of workers … has contractors scrambling.”

The Associated General Contractors of America report that 84% of construction firms are struggling to find enough carpenters, laborers, and equipment operators. ACG Chief Economist Ken Simonson told Jeffrey Sparshott of The Wall Street Journal that “the combination of having had this massive long exodus, a late pick up in hiring and now this greatly diminished pool of workers … has contractors scrambling.”
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