Construction Career Day Aims at Helping with Labor Shortage

homebuildingEAST FALMOUTH – Builders and remodelers on the Cape are seeing a surge in work but are struggling from a labor shortage and a couple of local organizations are holding an event to draw more interest in the fields.

The Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod and the Cape & Islands Workforce Investment Board will hold a Construction Career Day Thursday at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in East Falmouth.

Hundreds of high school juniors and seniors from across the Cape will attend the event to learn about job opportunities in residential construction-related fields.

“We just wanted to plant that seed with the kids, the teachers and the parents that there are great available, well paying, full-time, year-round jobs here on the Cape,” said Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod Executive Officer Christine Duren.

Professionals from a number home construction careers will be on hand to talk with students and to provide demonstrations and hands-on activities.

Career fields to be represented at the career day include architecture, building, carpentry, electrical, environmental, engineering, financial services, masonry, plumbing, real estate and smart home technology.

Duren surveyed association members this summer and says they are busier with at least 50 percent or more business compared with last year.

“Many of our builders are either delaying and rescheduling work or, worse case scenario, they are turning away work because they are so busy and the help is just not there,” Duren said.

The industry was affected from the recession and was one of the last to recover.

“During the downturn a lot of folks in the business either went out of business, retired, moved somewhere else or maybe found another line of work,” Duren said. “Now that we have come out of that deep recession and we are busy, busy, busy, a lot of the folks that were there in the past are no longer there.”

This is the events first year and Duren said they decided to keep it smaller and targeted just high school juniors and seniors.

“We would love to make this an annual event and we would love to, in the future, target even freshmen and sophomores,” she said.

Organizers were also hoping to include diplaced adult workers and veterans this year, but hope to include them if the event continues.

The Construction Career Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

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