Explaining the ongoing labor shortage in construction, Brian Turmail of the Associated General Contractors of America–a trade group for the non-union construction industry–recently stated: “It’s cultural. Mom doesn’t want her babies to grow up to be construction workers. For…years, we’ve [preached] a message … that the only path to success in life lies through a four-year college degree in some kind of an office.”[1] His comments reflect a popular discourse that blames a lack of skilled-workers on societal preferences. In April, the Department of Labor reported an increase of 129,000 construction job openings, at the same time that hiring decreased by 18,000. Other estimates put the labor shortage much higher totaling 650,000 workers, posing a major challenge to construction projects at a time when many localities are flush with cash from Biden’s infrastructure bill.

Where some blame a shift in American society that no longer values hard work, preferring a desk job over construction, Mark Erlich argues the problem is much simpler: construction work has suffered from decades of degradation reflected in declining wages and fewer protections for workers. Restore good pay and protections and you’ll solve the labor shortage. He would know as someone who worked in the construction industry for half a century, first as a carpenter, and later, in various union leadership positions representing his fellow construction workers. In this episode, he shares his insights on the industry, how it’s changed, and how to restore dignity to construction work.

Check out the episode here!

Mark Erlich retired as Executive Secretary-Treasurer (EST) of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters in March 2017. A member of Carpenters Local 40 since 1975, he worked at his craft as an apprentice, journeyman, foreman, and superintendent. He is currently the Wertheim Fellow at The Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and the retired Executive Secretary Treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. He is the author of The Way We Build: Restoring Dignity to Construction Work, Labor at the Ballot Box: The Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Campaign of 1988, and With Our Hands: The Story of Carpenters in Massachusetts.

[1] Turmail quoted in Lori Ann LaRocco and Natalie Rose Goldberg, “The iconic American hard hat job that has the higest level of open positions ever recorded,” CNBC, July 29, 2023, https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/29/the-hard-hat-job-with-highest-level-of-open-positions-ever-recorded.html.