The Biden administration has been focused on improving and innovating the United States' infrastructure and public transport through new policy and funding efforts. It was around a year and a half ago, the president signed a 1 trillion dollar deal to give many roads, bridges, and transit systems a makeover.
These proposed policies and subsidies are great ideas but can never be carried through if there aren't enough workers for the job. The number of available jobs in the construction industry jumped to 129,000 in February even though the total amount of listening dropped by 18,000. This is in contrast to the recent reports of the overall job markets where job openings have seen a dip signifying less unemployment.
The issue is caused by not the lack of government funding but the lack of programs for the funding to be allocated towards. The government needs to step in a create more training opportunities, apprenticeships, and pipelines that support the education and job fulfillment of construction workers. By doing this, grants for the industry will be able to be used for the apprenticeship programs and for the improved infrastructure once enough workers are in the field.
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1158576556/where-did-the-workers-go-construction-jobs-are-plentiful-but-workers-are-scarce
2 comments:
This is one of the issues with having such a low unemployment rate. With most people working, there are less people to cover these job listings, especially with jobs that risk personal injury like these construction jobs. I'm sure there's also a part of this issue that's simply that no one wants to work a construction job.
This is not an issue I had previously put much thought into, but I really like your idea of providing more apprenticeships so that people are ready to participate in the construction industry. Construction in parts of the US is also seasonal, dangerous work which lends itself to being less desirable on the employee side.
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