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Mark Twain popularized the saying that “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” For people in the construction industry, the statistics don’t lie and the past is well-documented.

Construction employment in Oregon hit an all-time high with 105,400 workers in August 2007. And then it dropped … like a rock.

According to data from the Oregon Employment Department, the industry shed over 38,100 jobs between August 2007 and December 2010, falling to less than two-thirds of its pre-recession employment level.

In 2007, construction made up over 6 percent of Oregon’s total workforce. But in 2010 that fell to barely 4 percent – making it the industry hardest hit by the recession.

While many contractors began to grab more work in 2011 and 2012, a proportionate number of new jobs didn’t follow. Efficiency, longer hours and a heavy load fell on owners and managers as they tried to guess what the future held. Employment levels within the industry bounced along the bottom for nearly four years – adding a few hundred jobs one month only to lose them a few months later.

But we seemed to have turned the corner in 2013. The two-steps-forward-followed-by-two-steps-backward types of monthly jobs reports are fading. The Oregon Employment Department’s October job numbers show that employment in the construction industry has been on a fairly steady march forward over the past year.

Since October 2012, over 6,500 jobs have been added in the construction sector – an increase of nearly 10 percent year over year. Our industry has scratched and clawed its way back to being near 75 percent of our peak.

The industry is growing again. In fact, as the numbers above illustrate, it is growing pretty fast – particularly among specialty contractors who the Employment Department says have added over 3,600 jobs this year.

Yet our industry is on a collision course with a new reality.

Even though there are still about 29,000 fewer workers today than the industry had at its peak, contractors are beginning to face challenges identifying a sufficient supply of skilled workers.

The industry is not attracting new workers fast enough to keep up with demand. It is a challenge that is certain to grow in the years ahead.

By 2020, the “millennial” generation will comprise over 50 percent of America’s workforce. But the construction industry has a workforce and career development track built around a baby boomer mindset – an ever-shrinking segment of our workforce, particularly in construction. Recruitment and training models are going to need to change, or our industry will never truly be able to attract and retain the best and brightest that we need.

The employment statistics reflect the growing optimism and encouraging tone among contractors and suppliers – but there are still challenges ahead. Our struggles to adapt and meet new demands for a skilled workforce – and ultimately modernizing our training models to fit new generations of workers – are not going to go away. Stay tuned.

Laurie Kendall is president of the Associated Builders and Contractors‘ Pacific Northwest chapter. Contact her at 503-598-0620 or at [email protected].