Labor shortages, rising healthcare costs likely to prove challenging.
Big Struggles for Small Colorado Construction Businesses in 2016?
About 85 percent of Colorado construction firms expect to hire in 2016, according to a new survey.
The problem? More than half are struggling to fill salaried and craft worker positions.
Among the Colorado firms surveyed by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), 31 percent were small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. A quarter of all those surveyed expect their headcount to increase by more than 25 this year, but three-fourths predict it will be just as hard or even harder to find qualified workers than it was in 2015.
Worker shortage is the biggest concern for 59 percent of Colorado construction businesses, followed by worker quality and rising direct labor costs, according to the survey.
Healthcare is one reason for those increased labor costs: 77 percent of firms saw the cost of providing health insurance spike last year, and 85 percent expect those expenses to be even higher in 2016.
None of this is unique to Colorado—it’s just more pronounced. Construction businesses across the country are facing uncertainty as the new year begins, according to the more than 1,500 firms from the District of Columbia and every state surveyed by AGC.
“Experienced workers are getting harder and harder to come by with baby boomers retiring,” explained one survey respondent.
In Colorado, that difficulty is even more conspicuous. Ninety percent of respondents are now having trouble filling positions, compared with 70 percent nationally.
