The Construction Users Roundtable will be helping the industry forecast labor supply and demand with a Web-based data-collection and forecasting tool. Owners and contractors who enter data will be able to run forecasts at no charge. The tool is a result of an initiative, commissioned by CURT, and managed by the non-profit Construction Workforce Development Center. About 50 owners have been using the database and inputting demand-side project data since February. The supply side of the model launched in mid-June, and 27 contractors have input craft labor availability data, according to CURT’s workforce consultant, Daniel Groves. The model is available
The deepening economic recession is taking a tremendous toll on construction workers. In May, construction’s unemployment rate jumped to 19.2%, more than double last year’s 8.6% rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest unemployment rate represents 1.77 million construction workers who are out of work. In May, total construction employment was 6.3 million, down from 7.3 million a year ago. Source: Bureau Of Labor Statistics. Unemployment Rate For May. Construction Unemployment
The push for alternative energy projects across North America is turning the electrical workers’ union “green” with desire for new federal funding to expand apprentice and journeyman worker training in installing everything from photovoltaic roofs and giant wind turbines to nuclear power reactors. Photo: IBEW Wind-turbine-installation training is set to grow. Photo: IBEW Apprentice electricians learn photovoltaic skills Such training is not new for the joint apprenticeship and training committee (JATC) of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), which jointly fund union training in the U.S. and Canada, but demand for graduates
It may seem as though the number of immigrants on the Gulf Coast has grown since Hurricane Katrina created a need for workers, but there is no hard evidence to determine the population of immigrants, documented or undocumented, says Temple Black, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Photo: Sam Barnes Some feel that the construction industry is exploiting Hispanic workers by paying insufficient wages. Photo: Sam Barnes Immigration officials say that there is no hard evidence to determine the population of immigrants, documented or undocumented, along the Gulf Coast. “If we knew where the illegals were, we would go
In an effort to jump start building projects in New York City and put idle union construction workers back on the job, the leaders of more than 40 different building trades and union employer groups announced on May 29 what they termed a “historic compact” to cut wages of both labor and management and end expensive work rules. Proponents claim the citywide project-labor agreement will cut costs by as much as 21% on the first 12 high-rise and other commercial projects that it covers, representing $2 billion of construction and 10,000 jobs. But some are less enthusiastic about the cost
The gender gap is closing for women science and engineering academics in hiring and tenure at U.S. research universities, but they are still underrepresented in applicant pools and earn less as full professors, says a National Research Council report released on June 2. The study is based on trends at 500 university departments, including civil and electrical en-gineering, and responses from 1,800 academics. The study says women are interviewed and hired at equal or higher rates than men, but fewer apply for tenure-track positions.
Feniosky Peña-Mora learned English at Columbia University in New York City two decades ago as a newly arrived immigrant with an engineering degree from the Dominican Republic, where he grew up. Now, the 43-year-old is returning to the upper Manhattan campus, close to the heart of the city's Dominican community, taking over in July as dean of that Ivy League institution's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Photo: Columbia University Feniosky Pe�a-Mora takes over Columbia's school of engineering and applied science in July. Peña-Mora replaces interim dean Gerald Navratil and will assume a program with 164 faculty, close to 2,870
Despite bumps and twists in Arizona’s commercial and housing construction markets, builders and high-school educators there have linked to keep the craft pipeline full for an anticipated market revival and expected retirement-driven workforce gaps. Photo: Arizona Builders’ Alliance Adam Rodriguez, an HVAC apprentice with a local firm, uses lab facilities to train. “We believe the economic downturn is a temporary phenomenon, and when it’s over, we will have more work than we have skilled labor,” says Dave Pittman, director of the Southern Arizona division of the Arizona Builders’ Alliance, a statewide contractor group whose 400 members include both union and
For U.S. military veterans, finding a civilian job has long been only half the battle. Adjusting to a nonmilitary home life and work world has been equallly challenging. The plumbers’ and pipefitters’ union is hoping to ease that switchover for veterans of recent Middle East conflicts by including two weeks of “transition training” as part of its new 18-week Veterans In Piping (VIP) welding pre-apprentice program. The extra training helps veterans, particularly those with physical and emotional war injuries, handle workplace biases and gives potential employers more confidence that their new hires can handle civilian jobsite stresses. Photo: United Association
Your assignment: Make a tool to separate a tray of golf balls and wood blocks into two piles without touching them. Transfer the piles across an obstacle course of orange cones, and drop them into designated boxes. Hurry up! Don’t step outside the boundary lines, or you’ll lose points. Photo: DI/JON Morgan Some students fashioned a container to load wooden blocks, then carried it over the obstacles. Related Links: Learn More About Destination ImagiNation See Videos of the Chicago Regional Rally: Challenge 1 See Videos of the Chicago Regional Rally: Challenge 2 See Videos of the Chicago Regional Rally: Challenge