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 As
the baby boom generation moves out of the workforce to be replaced
by the baby bust, industries across America will feel the pinch
of scarcer labor. One of the earliest and hardest squeezed industries
is the construction industry.
A study commissioned in 2000 by the East-West Gateway Coordinating
Council and the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers predicted
that one-third of metropolitan St. Louis’ 78,000 construction workers
would retire between 2001 and 2006, and the pool of available workers
isn’t expected to increase until about 2010.
In the recent past, the St. Louis construction industry excelled
at attracting new people, due in no small part to good labor management
relations, good wages and salaries. An earlier study, for the period
1994 to 2000, predicted the industry would not be able to attract
enough labor to fill retirements then, let alone grow a modest 1
to 1.5 percent a year. As it turned out, the industry had no problem
finding the labor to support a much more explosive growth rate.
St. Louis construction employment between 1992 and 2000 soared,
jumping 50 percent from 51,000 to 78,000.
With the tough demographic climate ahead, however, the industry
has to step up its recruiting. “We’re not seeing a lot of young
people coming in as trades people,” says Kevin Kuntz, senior vice
president of McCarthy Building Companies and head of its St. Louis
Operations. “I think the industry and trades are misunderstood,”
he says. “Companies and unions haven’t done a good job of showing
young people the opportunities in construction, not only in trades,
but also in accounting, information technology and business development.”
Leaders of the St. Louis construction industry are confident that
is changing. They are confident they’ve put the programs in place
that will enable them to more effectively compete for labor and
weather the coming shortage. One of those programs, the Construction
Careers Center, has received national attention. It was the first
construction industry-sponsored charter school in the country.
LANETTE
MEYER , school administrator, Construction
Careers Center, a charter high school that focuses
its instruction on the construction field. |
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August 2002 marks the start of the second year for the Construction
Careers Center. In 2001, before the building was ready for classes,
the school recruited 106 students for its first freshman class.
This year, the school has admitted another 160 students: 125 for
the freshman class and another 35 to bring the enrollment in the
sophomore class to 125 (several of last year’s students discovered
that construction wasn’t for them and elected not to return). Another
133 students are on a waiting list to get in.
What sets the Construction Careers Center apart from other high
schools is the focus on construction and the assurance that graduates
can enter an apprenticeship program. That translates in the curriculum
into fewer non-construction electives, fewer class choices in such
required subjects as math and English, and required courses in construction.
The focus is very limited, says Lanette Meyer, the school administrator,
that even the academic components of the curriculum “are attached
to construction to show their relevancy ... they are prescribed
by what the industry needs.”
In addition, the school year is longer than at other public high
schools—200 days instead of 178.
The freshman year is spent exploring the different parts of construction,
with students refining their interest each year until they are seniors.
“By the time they are seniors, they should only be in the building
for math or science class,” Meyer says. “They should be out implementing
a senior project, which is yet to be determined. It could be new
construction, it could be renovation, it could be housing.”
The construction charter high school “is just a piece of the whole
continuum of activities we’re doing,” says Leonard Toenjes, president
of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of St. Louis.
The association sends members into elementary schools with coloring
books, for example, to promote the image of the industry. The Build
Up! program for fifth and sixth graders is part image building and
part educational: in building models children see that there are
applications to some of the math they are learning. The Onsite kits
for seventh and eighth grade classes present children with more
complex projects, which draw more heavily on what they’ve learned
in school.
One of the purposes of the various kits is to “build up some expectations
that construction is a neat place to work, that it would be fun,”
Toenjes says.
“Kids in fifth through eighth grades start eliminating career options,”
Kuntz explains. We want them to feel positive about construction,
so they’ll see if it fits their interests.”
After middle school, a program for high school “was the missing
piece of the puzzle,” Toenjes says. That’s where the Construction
Careers Center comes in. That idea has proven so attractive that
the St. Louis Public Schools is sponsoring a second construction
charter school, this one for high school dropouts, and a for-profit
school management company has opened its own construction charter
school in East St. Louis.
After high school, St. Louis has an abundance of well-regarded training
programs for hourly workers, supervisors, and business owners. Local
apprenticeship programs “have won all sorts of national awards and
recognition,” Toenjes says. The area AGC also has a highly regarded
supervisor training program for supervisors and foremen. And the
“Business of Construction” course at Washington University helps
educate those who are starting their own construction businesses.
It takes them through marketing, estimating, construction management,
insurance, bonding, contract documents, and so on.
LEONARD
TOENJES
, president of the Associated General Contractors
of St. Louis |
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Then there is the Stempel Plan, a one-on-one mentoring program for
new women and minority business operators.
“We try to look at the whole continuum, which is why we named the
charter school ‘The Construction Careers Center,’ Toenjes says.
“There are just as many workforce needs in estimating and project
management as in the field. When looking at making the St. Louis
market competitive and productive, we can’t focus on only one piece—proper
scheduling and management is as important as proper tool skills.”
McCarthy spreads the continuum a couple of degrees wider. The company
is the prime local sponsor for “Sesame Street,” and its sponsorship
spot shows children in hard hats and other construction garb.
At the middle school level, McCarthy and Washington University put
on a summer school program called Minority Youth in Construction.
The three-year program enrolls 35 children a year from the Normandy,
Wellston, and University City areas. In addition to math and computer
training, the children visit construction firms to learn about career
opportunities, and take classes in interpersonal skills.
“It trains children in the importance of proper etiquette—a firm
handshake and eye contact—for a successful career in construction,”
Kuntz says.
“The program is getting them really excited about construction,”
he adds. “Our ultimate objective is to create some great role models
in minority construction—to have them come back and be mentors.
“I think if you look at it, most people in construction today, including
me, are in the industry because somebody in the family was in construction.
If we can get minority students engaged in the industry, we’re hoping
they will pass that on when they have families.”
Both Kuntz and Toenjes say their efforts are paying off.
“Apprenticeship programs have no shortage of applicants, and there
are more than 100 children on the waiting list for the charter school,”
Toenjes says. “If you look at specific trades, you can find shortages,
but overall, when you get the 20,000- foot view, we are fortunate
in having good labor-management relations that have resulted in
a good standard of living, which is attractive to people; and we
have a good diverse economic base, so people can work continuously.”
Peter Downs is a St. Louis-based freelance writer. |
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