Master builders want to respond to the study on the shortage of skilled workers

The Day of the Construction Industry, the traditional networking event of the Swiss Association of Master Builders SBC, took place in Lugano. Over 550 representatives from the construction industry and politics attended the event at the LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura cultural centre. The main topic was the shortage of skilled workers, which will also be a major concern for the construction industry in the coming years. Central President Gian-Luca Lardi presented the results of a new SBC study. Like prominent guests from business and politics, Lardi showed what is needed to be able to recruit enough skilled workers in the future.

“Our industry is doing well after three years of permanent crisis,” said Central President Gian-Luca Lardi, welcoming the more than 550 guests to the Construction Industry Day at the LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura cultural centre. “The master builders have learned to deal with the effects of the Ukraine war, just as they did before with the price increases and supply bottlenecks in the wake of the Corona pandemic.” And the future outlook is also quite positive in the medium to long term, according to Lardi. Construction activity should continue to grow, “albeit at a somewhat slower pace”. While strong growth is forecast for residential construction until 2040, mild growth to stagnation is expected in commercial construction, public building construction and public civil engineering. At the same time, builders can look forward to prices for building materials gradually falling again.

SBC study shows: Shortage of skilled workers endangers jobs
The focus of this year’s networking event was on the shortage of skilled workers and what mix of measures can be used to combat it. Today, the search for suitable employees at all levels is a major challenge for many tradespeople, including master builders. And it can be assumed that the situation will get even worse. With far-reaching consequences. “Without enough qualified craftsmen, important construction projects in our country can no longer be realised,” Lardi explained. To prevent such a scenario, the Swiss Association of Master Builders commissioned the Demographics Competence Centre to conduct a “Study on the Long-Term Development of the Economy and Skilled Workers in the Main Construction Industry”. Now the results of the study are public: while the demand for skilled workers in the main construction sector continues to rise, the supply is falling. By 2040, the shortage of skilled workers in the most important professions in the main construction industry – measured in terms of construction volume – is expected to reach 16 percent. Without countermeasures, there would be a shortage of about 30 percent of the required employees, i.e. about 2,500 skilled workers, among bricklayers and masons alone. This has an impact on turnover: If no measures were taken, the construction industry would lose up to 800 million Swiss francs annually due to the lack of skilled workers, or 13 billion Swiss francs in total over the next 20 years, adjusted for prices.

Digitalisation and personnel recruitment as hopefuls
The study points to several solutions against the shortage of skilled workers. “If we increase turnover per capita by 0.5 per cent annually, we can make up for 50 per cent of the shortage of skilled workers,” Gian-Luca Lardi reassured, however. This increase in productivity is to be achieved mainly with the help of digitalisation and through innovations. At the same time, the industry must do everything it can to “train more apprentices, keep skilled workers in the profession longer and ultimately recruit more lateral entrants”. In this way, the other half of the skills gap could be closed. The study points out several levers that can be tightened. For foremen and forewomen, where the shortage will develop less precariously than in other construction professions, lateral entrants already play an important role today. With targeted career and junior staff planning and support, the number of people in management positions can be increased. In apprenticeship training, it is very important to motivate young people to successfully complete their bricklaying apprenticeship and also to stay in the main construction trade in the long term. The decisive factor is not only the management and company culture, but above all the many great, “cool” construction projects that the young people can actively shape. Then they see that their work offers meaning and creates sustainable values.

Lardi ended his speech with an appeal to all project participants, i.e. builders, planners, specialists, construction companies and political decision-makers alike: “We will only be able to realise our future building park and infrastructures if we work together in true partnership and at eye level.”

Source: https://baumeister.swiss/