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Given a choice between keeping loyal, experienced employees or letting them go and training green apprentices, the decision is predictable. Contractors want loyal, hardworking, longtime employees. And so those firms have retained as many established workers as possible during this prolonged recession.

But as the construction sector looks beyond our current economic situation, we need to be thinking about who will be the future of the industry. Who are the future skilled craftsmen? Who are the future foremen, estimators and project managers?

The construction industry lost thousands of people over the past four years. Most of them either retired or left for careers in other industries. By a number of indications, many aren’t likely to ever return.

So where does that leave the industry? How will we meet the demand for skilled workers and future leaders. In most trades, the answer will be apprenticeship and advanced skills training so that journey-level workers will be empowered to move up the career ladder.

With indicators suggesting modest improvement and possible growth in the construction industry, it’s time to start taking the issue of training seriously again. It’s time for contractors to put five-year plans in place to preserve the health and stability of their workforce. This can be done by:

• Studying the past and determining traditional turnover of a field workforce during good times.
• Determining how many new workers will be needed to address this turnover and setting up training to bring people through apprenticeships and skills development programs.
• Looking closely at the demographics of existing management teams, foremen, estimators and project managers, and identifying how many are likely to retire or leave the industry soon.
• Identifying existing team members who can step up and replace departing leaders.
• Pushing the next generation to hone management skills through training efforts that will position them and their companies for future success.

The stability of businesses and our industry is dependent on people taking our future workforce issues seriously.

Years are required to prepare people for the leadership roles they will fill in the future. In licensed trades, years are needed to simply move someone from entry level to license-in-hand, full journey-level status.

Contractors that are beginning to add workers should be sure apprenticeship is at the top of their hiring priorities. Don’t miss the need to grow our industry’s workforce again and prepare for an inevitable shortage of skilled workers in the very near future.

And look closely at our workforce for ways to train future leaders. The Northwest College of Construction has a great portfolio of courses to accomplish this. Visit www.nwcoc.com for a full list of opportunities to consider.

Future access to a skilled and trained workforce depends on proactive action today.

John Killin is president of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pacific Northwest chapter and executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon.