Labor Remains Tight

The call went out Sept. 6.

With so many Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Arkansas shelters, Arkansas Construction Education Foundation Inc. began surveying construction companies for job openings eight days after the storm’s destructive landfall. Steve Schaeffer, the non-profits’s executive director, said the goal is to pair Arkansas’ labor-strapped firms with tradesmen who have been displaced by the disaster.

Jobs may be posted or sought by clicking on the workforce services links at www.kare.arkansas.gov, or by calling (877) 293-5273. A quick search for just the word “construction” on Sept. 8 found 100 job openings. More postings are available at www.arkansasjobs.net.

“We’ve gotten a flood of people saying they’ll take anyone we can send them,” Schaeffer said. “They would prefer more experienced glass installers, electricians, plumbers and carpenters, but there is so much work they’ll take less experienced, too.

“One gentleman from Kullander Construction in Little Rock said he needs as many as six metal building erectors, six form carpenters, five trim carpenters, two foremen and three job superintendents right now.”

Although the influx of hurricane refugees may temporarily inflate the number of available workers for numerous professions, Schaeffer said long term the crisis will pressure Arkansas’ already tight skilled-labor market. With healthy construction in Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock, Jonesboro and West Memphis, he said, there already aren’t enough skilled tradesmen to go around.

“The tremendous reconstruction program to rebuild the Gulf Coast will require thousands of newly trained construction personnel,” Schaeffer said. “Because of the amount of government funds going into that construction, the wages to be paid on the work will be pretty high, and that will draw even more on the supply of skilled workers.”

Unemployment rates specific to tradesmen are difficult to come by. But practitioners such as Robert C. Killion, executive vice president of Marrs Electric Inc. of Springdale, said there’s been a shortage for years. High-tech jobs, competitive pay and societal changes all have played a role, he said.

Killion said he hopes that if some Katrina evacuees can be identified as licensed professionals, they’ll be granted at least six-month temporary licenses. The state requires many skilled tradesmen to be a licensed apprentice, journeyman or master to legally perform their job.

“We would take any of those type folks because we have so much work,” Killion said. “We have ads for jobs running constantly, and we have great pay and benefits. There’s just a lack of skilled workers.”

ACEF has about 700 apprentices in its four-year training programs statewide, up nearly 17 percent from 600 in 2003.

The number of apprentices in all programs statewide surged in 2003 to 5,014, but fell 5.7 percent to 4,745 in 2004, according to an Arkansas Department of Labor study. The total has risen steadily, however, from just 2,586 in 1999. The same study showed the state’s apprentices (for all trades) had combined income that year of $92.27 million, or about $19,446 each.

The earning opportunities in the state’s northwest and central corridors are, on average, higher (see chart; chart requires Adobe Acrobat viewer). A licensed bricklayer in Benton County, for instance, could earn $38,500 per year.