Survey: ABC Members Invested $1.6 Billion To Upskill 1.3 Million in Construction Workforce Education
June 24 2024 - 8:00AM
Associated Builders and Contractors today released its 2024
Workforce Development Survey, which found its member contractors
invested $1.6 billion to provide craft, leadership and health and
safety education to more than 1.3 million course attendees
nationwide in 2023, up from $1.5 billion in 2022 and on track with
$1.6 billion in 2021.
Other key findings include:
- Safety education accounts for the greatest share of total
workforce investment at 59%, which has remained stable since
2022.
- ABC contractors invested an average of 7.5% of payroll on
workforce development in 2023, slightly down from 8% in 2022.
- Trade and specialty contractors continued to increase their
share of the total workforce development investment, which grew to
50% in 2023 from 42% in 2022.
- 58% of respondents reported a labor shortage that is severe or
very severe, citing an exodus of baby boomers as the top
contributor.
- 81% of respondents who utilize virtual or augmented reality
used it for safety education.
“ABC member contractors not only build and rebuild structures
with excellence, but they also help build lifelong, durable,
transferable skill sets for their employees by investing billions
to cultivate their career progression in commercial and industrial
construction,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC’s vice president of health,
safety, environment and workforce development. “This investment is
in response to the need for more than half a million additional
construction workers in 2024 alone. Workforce development is part
of the culture of ABC member contractors, which continue to choose
flexible, competency-based and market-driven methods to upskill
their workforces. Construction is among the few industries where an
individual can become an apprentice, earn a paycheck while learning
the skills needed for their chosen craft and receive a portable,
industry-recognized credential that will further their career.”
The annual workforce development survey quantifies the scope of
ABC members’ education and upskilling initiatives to advance their
employees’ careers in commercial and industrial construction to
build the places where we gather, live, work, learn and heal.
ABC’s all-of-the-above approach to upskilling has produced a
network of more than 800 apprenticeship, craft, health and safety
and management education programs—including more than 450
government-registered apprenticeship programs across 20 different
occupations—in order to develop a safe, skilled and productive
workforce. ABC chapters also have 328 entry-point programs in place
nationally to welcome all to begin a career in construction.
Members contribute about $500,000 annually to ABC’s Trimmer
Construction Education Fund to support the development of a
skilled, safe and sustainable workforce through grants awarded to
its chapters.
Industry consulting firm FMI conducted the 2024 Workforce
Development Survey from Jan. 4 to May 20, 2024. Aggregated data was
derived by calculating the average amount spent on education by
each respondent and multiplying that by the total number of ABC
contractor members.
Erika Walter
Associated Builders and Contractors
(202) 905-2104
ewalter@abc.org