by Kim Bryan, Petticoat-Schmitt Civil Construction

As a former high school teacher trained in education, I took the opportunity to share my talents with our local Association, NUCA of North Florida, in the early to mid-2000’ s by participating in and chairing our Education Committee. At the time, we had a dire trained and skilled labor shortage. I assisted with developing a partnership between our chapter and the local Junior College, drafting the curriculum of the programs, recruiting volunteer instructors and implementing our local Basic and Advanced Underground Utility Construction Training program to the benefit of our member contractors. I also became an instructor and drafted a proposal for a funding grant to assist in keeping the cost low for

employers.

Fast forward 10 years. Our industry – as well as many other skilled construction trade industries – are in a similar, if not worse, labor shortage predicament. When the opportunity came up for our state Association to participate in a Construction Industry Workforce Taskforce, where the current training and education of our future workers was being evaluated and assessed, Kathy Blackman thought I might be a good fit to represent our industry given my history and involvement with this issue. I graciously accepted the invitation.

The Taskforce is represented by many construction trades across the state, all of which are experiencing labor issues, including but not only, electricians, brick masons, asphalt contractors,

fire sprinklers, carpenters, HVAC, swimming pool, alarm, building inspectors, roofers, concrete and homebuilders. Primarily the main concerns are shortage of workers in general and shortage of skilled workers specifically. As we all know, the Great Recession caused a substantial reduction in the construction workforce in Florida. While many firms attempted to keep their best, most seasoned( i. e. older / most experienced) employees, many up-andcoming tradesmen, typically in their late 20’ s to mid-30’ s, either left the state or left the construction industry. The trend is that these younger workers that abandoned construction were quite adaptable and found work in other fields. It has been difficult if not near impossible to entice them back to construction. The older generation that hung in there