Construction outlook strong in low-hire, low-fire climate

Construction jobs in Miami-Dade County have been declining over the past year despite a strong demand for construction, experts say.

There was a loss of construction jobs in the county by 1.6% over the past year to 60,200 total jobs as of February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We have an outlook survey that we do at the onset of each year, and that gives us a sense of where contractors expect to see a relatively larger degree of growth, or even what areas are going to be performing poorly,” said Macrina Wilkins, the director of market insights for the Associated General Contractors of America. “Now, Miami as a whole, we see that contractors tell us that public buildings, data centers, hospitals, bridge and highway, other healthcare, warehouse, all of the 17 segments – with the exception of retail – we look at, they have a positive sentiment about their ability to build revenue. Now, a lot of this carries over to other areas throughout Florida, one of which also includes Miami-Dade.”

Ms. Wilkins added that although there’s demand for construction in the county, there are listing factors.

“With that being said, we’re having to consider that within a broader understanding of, we’re seeing a tightening of the labor market,” she said. “So yes, there’s work; there’s difficulty getting enough people to do that work, and especially with some of the larger political issues at play, we’re seeing traditional pipelines being challenged.”

The impact, she explained, is a “low-hire, low-fire stance” that extends from the national level to the state and Miami.

“Contractors are holding on to workers that they already have, even as some are aging out, but they’re hesitant to bring on people unless they really are a good fit and have the skillsets necessary to contribute to the team,” Ms. Wilkins said.

“Another sort of factor that’s sort of in the mix too,” she said, “is the role that immigration enforcement has played; you know, construction as an industry, we employ – 38% of our tradesmen identify as foreign-born.

“Now that doesn’t differentiate whether or not someone was born abroad and here legally versus illegally, you know, they’re making use of work visas, Temporary Protected Status, whatever, but such a large portion of our current labor force, like I said, is foreign-born, with that percentage considerably higher in other states, Florida being one of them as well … the figure is 52% of all construction trade occupations in Florida identify as being foreign-born.”

Rising interest rates and material prices, she said, further complicate the construction industry.

“So the better that firms can either create new pipelines, partner with trade schools or just really lobby on the behalf of, again, getting more potential workers into the labor force, the better chance you’ll have of actually seeing that work materialize.”