Construction growth, coupled with culture shifts, legislation and changes in academia are impacting the labor force. Industry leaders must meet the challenge of attracting and educating future members of the workforce to fill an estimated 500,000 open construction jobs across the country.

A boom in infrastructure, commercial and public construction has primarily caused the labor shortage. While contractors are benefiting, they are also facing growth constraints resulting from demographic trends: The Baby Boomer generation is reaching retirement and younger age groups are not being attracted to the industry in sufficient numbers.

The industry needs to correct misconceptions that make it more difficult to attract younger people, who tend to believe that trade programs are not quality-first options and that manual labor is less valuable or desirable than an office job. While this could not be further from the truth, it is the reality that employers and trade educators face.

Clearly, construction professionals are needed to build roadways and structures. Also needed are people skilled in operating trucks and cranes, and in laying and assembling structures. They cannot simply be hired, shown an instructional video and sent to the jobsite. Heavy equipment operators take three to four years to train.

Those jobs pay well, a fact that is not as well-advertised to high school students as the benefits of a college degree. It’s important for construction professionals to work with educators to instill the mindset that a career in construction is a lifelong, honorable one.

The industry must overcome the parental and guidance counselor perception that construction jobs are menial, unskilled work requiring lots of sweat and little thinking. Like college students, many professionals must prepare for four years through apprenticeship programs. They never stop learning through continuing education and recertification courses, just as lawyers and doctors do.

Associated Builders and Contractors invests about $1.1 billion a year nationwide on apprenticeship programs that enroll more than 476,000 people. The students commit to learning skills that help make offices, homes, stores, venues and other structures safe, sound and strong. They upgrade roads, build airports and repair the damage that devastating storms such as Hurricane Michael cause to communities.

Apprenticeship programs are intense. Students attend classes at night after working full time during the day, putting what they have learned in the classroom to immediate use.

Instruction has kept pace with technology, as students can now enroll in online programs that allow them to finish at their own pace and without having to travel to a campus. Audiovisual equipment in the classroom, on-demand video, webinars and taped lessons are available for review for those who are absent or relocate before they complete a course.

These programs are not just designed for those coming out of high school. They appeal to people ranging in age from their mid-20s to their 60s looking for a more stable career. These adult workers are more serious about providing for their families and building their futures.

To reach the millennial generation, ABC's Florida East Coast chapter has set a great example by advertising at music festivals, flying aerial banners at sporting events, optimizing websites for SEO and placing ads on digital music and social media sites that appeal to that generation’s tastes.

Ready, Set, Build is a new, one-week program from the chapter that puts students through an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour course that earns them a safety card upon completion. Graduates are placed into entry-level positions for a trial period, allowing them to see if the construction industry is for them. After the period ends, they can enroll in an apprenticeship program at the expense of their employer. They graduate debt-free, with a full-time job and a higher salary.

One hundred and fifty graduates from the Florida East Coast Chapter’s apprenticeship institute walked across the stage in 2018, the biggest class yet. More involvement from educational institutions allows expanded sponsored programs that inform students of the opportunities in construction from entry-level positions all the way to owning their own company.

Student chapters at Florida International University and Florida Institute of Technology are growing at a steady pace, and they compete against other university teams at the annual national Construction Management Competition. In 2018, the FIU student chapter placed first in the competition that challenges construction knowledge, time management, organizational and presentation skills.

Construction professionals make a difference in this country. As Americans drive on highways they built or walk into skyscrapers they erected, its important they know that the people who helped get them there put in the hours of education and training needed to get the job done right.