The Current Educational and Cultural Challenges in Construction

As we look at the construction industry over the last 25 years, the commitment to training and education has not kept up with the needs and the ever-growing changes within the industry. New materials and processes are implemented at a rapid rate, but are companies ensuring that their laborers and their leaders know everything they need to know for proper installation? Probably not. Technology, BIM, LEED, Lean, Applications, and so on, are changing how construction is performed and the contractual exposure like never before.

Just as the industry has grown and changed over the years, so has the skill level of our workforce. Laborers are now predominately Hispanic, coming from a cluster of Latin American countries to perform the day-to-day, unskilled work on our jobsites. The term Hispanic was created by the United States Government over 25 years ago to identify Latin American individuals and their descendants living in the United States, regardless of race. But what exactly defines unskilled work? Where do we draw the line? Does it not take skill to set up a scaffold; install flashing, windows, and shelf angles; pour concrete; and make sure all aspects of the construction production are installed correctly?

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