New hiring trends in the construction industry for 2012

New hiring trends in the construction industry for 2012

The custom home building sector has taken a hit this past year. New custom home starts in most areas of Ontario are down compared to last year and are forcing general contractors to shed employees.

Most trades are being laid off from larger builders, even carpenters are not safe from the chopping block. In the past, carpenters have been immune to being laid off or outright released during lean times. Construction companies are shrinking by shedding salaries to lower overheard and stay competitive in a tighter market.

The biggest growth is in younger cheaper labour. Companies are trying to keep the cost of operations down and are turning to younger labour that can be trained to fill the void of the older generation that is being laid off because of their elevated wages. The problem with this is that there just isn’t enough skilled younger labour for everyone to hire. Companies that didn’t start hiring and training of younger person’s years before the 2008 market collapse are having trouble filling the void of labour today.

An ever growing upward trend is the hiring of women in the industry for all positions, this in the drive to find younger cheaper labour. In today’s construction climate it is a much friendlier environment  to work then it was twenty years ago, especially for female workers.

Traditionally women have been the secretaries or bookkeepers in construction companies. Today young women are now filling the roles of accountant, estimators, designers, draftsmen, labours and carpenters. Certain sub-trades are having a higher success rate of recruiting women, carpentry and electricians for example. Other sub-trades such as plumbers and HVAC installers are not making as many inroads with women.

 With the industry looking for younger people, companies are now advertising job notices in different ways. Gone are the days of posting the job in the local papers, the internet is the place to advertise job postings these days. There are companies that will advertise your add to all the major job websites in your area. They will manage your ad and make sure that it is been viewed in all the appropriate areas and not in areas that will be too far for people to commute to get to work. Young people today look to the internet for everything in their lives, this makes it a natural progression for them to find their employment on line as well.

Overall the industry is in a state of flux, with new workers coming in and older workers finding it hard to find good long term jobs with the higher salaries that they are accustomed too.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.