Construction Industry Facing Skilled Labor Shortage By Decade's End.

• Author: KANE, ROGER
• Position: Statistical Data Included

There is no doubt the labor market in Anchorage is tight and bound to get tighter in the coming years. While there seems to be enough labor to tackle the major commercial and public construction projects under way this summer, there is a doubt that there will be a shortage of skilled workers in the near future.

Some of the most sought-after skilled workers in the construction industry are boilermakers, electricians, heavy-equipment operators, iron workers, sheet metal fabricators, plumbers and steamfitters. Workers skilled in these trades will be in even higher demand three, five or seven years from now, according to Richard Cattanach, executive director of Associated General Contractors of Alaska.

"I believe the labor market is tight, but I don't see a shortage anywhere," Cattanach said. At least not for this season.

At the peak of the summer, employed construction workers in Alaska will number more than 17,000 this year. Those jobs represent 5.7 percent of the state's labor force, Cattanach said.

The potential for a labor shortage exists in the near future when the growth of the construction industry is projected through 2008. A conservative estimate of 1.2 percent growth a year will raise the number of peak-season construction jobs to about 19,300 by 2008. While recruiting the 275 workers a year needed to raise the estimated 2,300 new workers needed for the 2008 construction season does not seem insurmountable, there are a few catches.

Aging Work Force

Faced with unprecedented numbers of workers in skilled trades retiring or preparing to retire, one of the biggest challenges employers will face in the coming years is replacing those retiring workers.

Cattanach estimates that between 650 workers and 700 workers will re tire each year through 2008, which raises the number of skilled craftsmen needed each year to about 1,000.

With unemployment rates as low as they are, coupled with the fact that in the last seven years more people left Alaska than arrived, that leaves a very limited pool of workers to recruit from, Cattanach said.

Recognizing that recruiting options within the existing labor pool are limited, Cattanach said Associated General Contractors is changing course and looking to the young people in Alaska, and the rest of the nation, to fortify contractor rosters.

Last year, about 6,500 students graduated from Alaska high schools and the United States Department of Education estimated that 30 percent of those students would go on...