Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive
The high median age of construction workers is just one of the contributing factors to the workforce shortages in the industry. But the issue is not necessarily unique to construction, as there is an aging overall workforce due to national demographics.
Construction employment declined by 7,000 between May and June as the industry still employs 238,000 fewer people than before the pandemic, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released on July 2, 2021.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) intends to withdraw the “Loan Necessity Questionnaire” that has heavily burdened and delayed all applications for forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $2 million or more. AGC sued SBA last December for developing the form entirely in secret, and without public input, and for using the form to change the de facto requirements for the forgiveness of such loans.
Construction employment declined for the third time in the past four months in May as nonresidential contractors coped with lengthening and unpredictable delivery times that limited their ability to start or complete projects, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released on June 4, 2021.
On April 26, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) submitted its draft COVID-19 ETS to the White House for final review. The review process generally takes a few weeks to no more than 90 days. Given the pressure the White House is under from organized labor, worker advocacy groups and Democrats, it is expected that the review process will be expedited.
