Factoids

Housing Industry Dilemma Number of Construction Workers Residential Construction

December 21, 2018  by Laurie Northington in General   

The furniture industry is driven by housing: new household formations, changes of residences of existing households, and replacement or upgraded furniture within existing residences.  Unfortunately, critically low inventories and subsequent skyrocketing home prices and rental rates are locking out new home buyers and stymieing moves at a time when the economy is growing and employment is high. This is the final factoid in a series of four factoids detailing the crucial struggle facing the housing market and consequentially the furniture industry.

Numerous factors have converged to create the housing shortage, one of which is the lack of construction labor. Due to a combination of many workers leaving the industry during the recession, fewer people attending trade schools and a decline in immigrants and undocumented workers, builders struggle to find workers. The amount of construction workers in residential construction fell 44.8 percent from 2006 to 2011, losing almost half of the total workers. The industry has slowly gained employees back since 2011, increasing by 39.6 percent in seven years, but is still 23 percent shy of the one million construction workers in 2006. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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Fast Fact: Housing Shortage, Decline of Construction Workershttp://hfbusiness.com/hfbnow/ArticleID/18256/fast-fact-housing-shortage-decline-of-construction-workers