Chronic Construction Workforce Shortages and the Industry’s Lack of Diversity

AGC launched targeted digital advertising Workforce Recruiting campaigns in partnership with chapters in Oregon, South Dakota, Alaska and Idaho. These campaigns identify people who are likely candidates – from a diverse set of backgrounds – for careers in construction and targeted them and their households with ads about the benefits of working in the industry. These campaigns drove tens of thousands of potential new workers to visit the chapters’ workforce development sites and apply for jobs or sign up for training.

AGC of America’s Culture of Care program signed up over 800 firms to participate in the innovative workplace program. Culture of Care offers a series of resources that members use to create jobsites that are more welcoming and inclusive. This helps firms attract more diverse workers and also serves as an invaluable workforce retention tool by helping all workers feel more included and valued on job sites. AGC also created and released a series of videos detailing different elements of the Culture of Care program to help firms understand how to take advantage of the program.

We served again as a strong supporter of the 2nd Annual Construction Inclusion Week, an industry-organized effort to promote greater inclusion in construction. As part of that support, AGC created specific Culture of Care resources for firms to use while participating in inclusion activities during the week. Over 1,100 people from the industry accessed those Inclusion Week-specific resources online.

Twenty-four AGC chapters have adopted and are using a template Workforce Recruiting Website we created and make available for free. This template recruiting site is highly customizable, so chapters can easily use the resource to create their own, locally branded, workforce development campaigns. Some chapters, like the AGC of Alaska, have also used this new site in conjunction with the digital advertising campaigns we sponsor and help organize.

In November, AGC brought together construction educators, public officials and workforce development specialists for member firms and chapters for the 2nd Annual National Construction Industry Workforce Summit. The summit provides an opportunity for participants to outline successful workforce development strategies they are putting in place. Participants also help craft new tactics that can be used to bring more people into the industry. AGC will release a summary of those success stories and new workforce ideas early in 2023.

The AGC Education and Research Foundation, in partnership with Procore, launched a new HBCU Scholarship designed to support minority students studying construction at the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. The Foundation successfully raised over $500,000, including a $250,000 matching grant from Procore, and awarded the first round of ten scholarships to students in 2022.