Arizona Struggles To Fill Construction Labor Demands

Feenmi · 07-03-2012, 09:40 PM

Quote:

As the construction industry booms in Arizona, builders in the state are having trouble finding workers to do the heavy lifting.

“I’ve been doing this for a quarter of a century, and this is the biggest shortage of skilled laborers I’ve ever seen,” D.J. Hughes, a project manager in Golden Canyon, Arizona, told Businessweek.

With building permits reaching a four-year high, Arizona's builders are now eager to hire framers, roofers, and carpenters. However, Arizona's tough immigration law and a lack of work during the housing crash pushed skilled laborers out of the state, Businessweek reported.

A spike in homebuilding has increased spending on construction across the country, with a 0.9 increase percent in construction spending in May, and a 0.6 percent rise in April, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

In Arizona, construction employment rose 9.3 percent in May, after declining by more than 50 percent since 2006, and the average hourly wage increased by more than a dollar in under a year (to $20.72 from $19.53 in 2011), according to Businessweek. While some say increased construction indicates that the housing sector is recovering slowly across the country, Arizona is having trouble keeping pace without the necessary workers.

Downtime has become commonplace at building sites as construction companies await workers, and the average time for completing a house is now twice as long as it took before the shortage, the chief executive officer of Trend Homes in Gilbert, Arizona told Businessweek.

While the reversal of building trends has created a desperate need for skilled laborers, some say Arizona's draconian immigration law may have made matters even worse.

SB1070, which was partially upheld by the Supreme Court last month, requires police to check the identification of those they suspect of being in the country illegally. Critics say the law facilitates racial profiling, while supporters say the measure simply enforces existing laws.

After a similar measure was enacted in Alabama last year, the state saw a mass-exodus of immigrant and Latino workers, and crops were left rotting in Alabama's fields, with no hands to pick them.

Some now wonder if unfinished construction sites are Arizona's version of unharvested fruit in Alabama.

Arizona is in the top 5 states to employ high percentages of construction workers who are Hispanic, according to a 2007 report by the The Center for Construction Research and Training. More than 40% of construction workers employed in Arizona are Latino and more than 70 percent of Hispanic construction workers in the U.S. are foriegn born, according to the same report.

Arizona's undocumented immigrant population has fallen by 100,000 since 2009, according to recent data from the Department of Homeland Security.

Arizona lost 210,000 construction workers since the housing crash, David Jones, the president of the Arizona Construction Association told local radio station 92.3 KTAR-FM. Jones believes many workers left the state because out of fear caused by the state immigration law SB1070, and he doesn't think that the younger generation of Arizonans will make up for the loss in physical labor.

"They're young and they're bright but not interested in working with their hands and minds in a physically demanding job," Jones said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...oices#comments

tyler129 · 07-03-2012, 10:23 PM

whatever let them collapse

iDream · 07-03-2012, 10:45 PM

This kind of news makes me smile

Oh happy dayyyy! Oh happy dayy!

JohannBernoulli1667 · 07-03-2012, 11:20 PM

Oh the good news!!! Keep them coming.

On a side note, I have been hearing rumors that Obama might dump Biden for Hillary

...

That would be the end of Romney

Demise · 07-04-2012, 12:23 AM

Burn baby burn.

will_con · 07-04-2012, 12:46 AM

Disco inferno

Nexus · 01:49 AM

That's what happens when big government sets laws that interferes with the free market. There are so many implications that come out of this from an economic standpoint that it would take too long to explain in a forum thread.

Just for fun..... Let's pretend there existed a magic wand that would make Romney really happy.....

He could wave said magic wand and make all the immigrants automatically self deport. What would happen? In short it would be like a domino effect. All across the USA, consumers would see a significant increase in the prices of most goods and services. Our cost of living as we know it would certainly see a significant increase, while our income would remain the same at best.

I could go on about other government policies that interfere with the free market in a negative way, and in the end just increases our cost of living but I don't want to take away from the thread

freshh. · 07-04-2012, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus

That's what happens when big government sets laws that interferes with the free market. There are so many implications that come out of this from an economic standpoint that it would take too long to explain in a forum thread.

Just for fun..... Let's pretend there existed a magic wand that would make Romney really happy.....

He could wave said magic wand and make all the immigrants automatically self deport. What would happen? In short it would be like a domino effect. All across the USA, consumers would see a significant increase in the prices of most goods and services. Our cost of living as we know it would certainly see a significant increase, while our income would remain the same at best.

I could go on about other government policies that interfere with the free market in a negative way, and in the end just increases our cost of living but I don't want to take away from the thread

I hope we hear more stories like this leading up to the election. When people in states with these kind of laws are paying $24 for a bag of oranges, they'll understand how important immigrant labor is.

immigration truth · 07-04-2012, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohannBernoulli1667

Oh the good news!!! Keep them coming.

On a side note, I have been hearing rumors that Obama might dump Biden for Hillary

...

That would be the end of Romney

That's what I was saying yesterday, if he does it, it would be the total end of Romney. The election would be a HUGE landslide. And after the election biden could just become sectary of state and provide us more laughs as he goes around the world.

dreamy14 · 07-04-2012, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohannBernoulli1667

Oh the good news!!! Keep them coming.

On a side note, I have been hearing rumors that Obama might dump Biden for Hillary

...

Hah....Can he do that?

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Arizona Struggles To Fill Construction Labor Demands