Charlotte doesn’t have enough workers for coming train, road projects, report finds
Charlotte doesn’t have nearly enough skilled laborers to meet the demand for future transportation projects, according to a report presented at a City Council committee meeting on Monday.
Charlotte will need to fill an estimated 5,000 construction-related jobs over the next three decades, the report found. The city wants to use the findings to help local firms take on the work and avoid outsourcing most of the construction.
“There is a time-sensitive opportunity to strengthen local business participation,” said Ed McKinney, special assistant to the city manager.
A slew of projects will take place over the next 30 years after Mecklenburg County voters approved a 1% sales tax increase in November. The tax is estimated to generate an extra $19.4 billion during that time. It will go entirely toward transportation needs, including road and pedestrian improvements, bus modernization and rail expansions.
But transportation construction demand will exceed local labor capacity by 2030, according to the report. If current market conditions persist, local businesses could only build about half of all transportation projects when construction demand peaks around 2040.
And for rail construction, in particular, demand will balloon to more than four times the local capacity.
The report also found at least a quarter of the local infrastructure workforce will reach retirement age in the next 10 years, with positions such as construction managers and supervisors, heavy equipment operators and carpenters most at risk. The city included bus drivers in this statistic, which will see the greatest portion of its workforce — about half — reach retirement age.
Many of those same roles will see annual demand increase anywhere from 20% to 90%.
“The pool is shrinking while our demand is growing,” McKinney said.
That doesn’t mean Charlotte won’t be able to do the work, McKinney said. The city would just rely more heavily on the national market instead of keeping money in the local economy.
How will Charlotte address the construction workforce gap?
The city is trying to scale up its programs to prepare local businesses for investments to come, and other public and private sector organizations will need to help, too, said Monica Allen, deputy city manager. The report will inform which areas receive top priority.
There are more than 20 potentially underrepresented business areas that will need ongoing support and training, the report found. Concrete subcontractors, electrical subcontractors and traffic signal installers are three of those business types for which the city has already set up training to build capacity, McKinney said.
Charlotte also launched the Skilled to Build initiative to prepare local businesses for the influx of investments. The initiative will offer workforce development grants, training opportunities and technical support to small businesses.
The city is currently preparing $2.1 million in grant recommendations for construction, skilled trades and high school internship placements. Together, the grants would support more than 1,200 residents with training and job placements, said Danielle Frazier, special assistant to the city manager.
The growing city has no shortage of people, with more than 150 moving to the Charlotte region every day, Frazier said.
“What our challenge and opportunity will be is, how do we make sure we align the interest of our talent with the skill sets that will be needed to access these job opportunities that these mobility projects will bring?” Frazier said.
