When will our nation invest the resources required to rebuild the workforce? Our ability to build and maintain what was once the greatest infrastructure system has eroded. We are still a world leader in developing technological innovations, but the workforce required to build, operate and maintain the facilities to support the innovations across their lifecycle is absent. The United States’ workforce development system is in need of an overhaul. As a process, workforce development includes the recruitment, training, placement and retention of individuals in gainful employment opportunities. Over the past three decades, we have seen a shortage of construction workforce emerge. The skills shortage has worsened to the point that it is not only hard to find qualified craft professionals, but it also impacts projects’ schedule, cost and safety. As a nation, we have a wealth of resources that can be used to reverse these challenges. If we choose to do nothing, the shortage of craft professionals will get worse and likely even accelerate in the next decade due to an aging construction workforce.

Revitalizing our nation’s workforce development system is a step on the path toward addressing not only the skilled shortage of construction craft professionals but the nation’s shortage across numerous other industries. The effort will require new approaches in how we communicate career opportunities, such as work-based learning and other initiatives, to youth in secondary and postsecondary education. To define this path forward, a series of policies have been developed that impact industry stakeholders

and governmental agencies. Considering the relative benefits and costs associated with each policy, there are ones that we can begin implementing more quickly, in the short term (less than three years), and there are others that will require long-term, sustained efforts.

Short-term Workforce Development Policies1. Establish and strengthen the awareness of career opportunities in our nation: Most graduating high school students expect to earn a bachelor’s degree for employment opportunities and higher wages, yet most jobs in the U.S. require career and technical education (CTE) and the associated certification. We must establish our nation’s commitment to the equality of all workers by recognizing the dignity of their contribution to society.

2. Revitalize our work-based learning programs: Despite the tremendous benefits associated with work-based learning, it remains a marginal education strategy in the U.S. Our nation needs to significantly improve participation in work-based learning programs by removing barriers to company participation and promoting its exposure in secondary education.

3. Measure performance and involvement in workforce development when awarding construction contracts: As owners recognized the importance of safety, they held their contractors to high standards of safety performance, which helped with long-term improvements in worker health and safety. Owners need to assess construction firms’ dedication and commitment to workforce development much like the industry does with safety.

Restoring the Dignity of Work: Transforming the U.S. Workforce Development System into a World Leader

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NCCERConstruction Users Roundtable

Ironworkers/IMPACTConstruction Industry Institute

JULY 2018

7. Develop more balanced funding among postsecondary CTE and higher education: A sizable portion of public education and workforce funding is not effectively allocated to meet the needs of the national economy. The overall governmental funding received by CTE programs across the U.S. has declined over the last decade. As a nation, we must increase funding available to CTE programs most needed by industry through direct funding, incentive programs and streamlined governmental funding programs.

Longer-term Workforce Development Policies4. Redefine how we measure the quality of our nation’s secondary education system by career and college readiness: In terms of preparing graduates of our nation’s secondary education system, “career readiness” and “college readiness” are currently used interchangeably. Career readiness is a broader concept than just preparing individuals for university studies. At a minimum, all high school graduates should be career ready. The nation’s secondary education system should be provided greater incentive to ensure the career readiness of all high school graduates.

5. Increase the participation of underrepresented groups in CTE: The groups that represent the greatest opportunity for new workers in the construction industry include women, minorities and veterans. To increase the numbers of these groups within the construction industry we must increase their presence within secondary and postsecondary CTE programs. In addition, the industry must do a better job of recruiting and retaining these future professionals with improved worksite conditions and other incentives.

6. Establish and expand collaboration between industry, education and government: Industry and business leaders directly feel the challenge of recruiting people in non-managerial roles with required skills, training and education. To promote CTE in both secondary and postsecondary education levels, the industry has to take an active role promoting industry involvement and investment into our nation’s secondary and postsecondary CTE programs.

You can find your federal, state and local elected officials at:

www.usa.gov/elected-officials

This advocacy document and its policies are meant to educate local, state and federal legislators on why reforming our workforce system is so critical. To make our workforce development system into a global leader, we must emphasize the following changes:

• Elevate career education

• Support workforce development through industry collaboration

• Balance funding between CTE and higher education

• Recognize all effective work and learn models

• Ensure all high school graduates are career ready

ACE Mentoring • American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) • American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) • Association for Skilled and Technical Services (ASTS) • Barton Malow • Bechtel • Brown & Root • Central Gulf Industrial Alliance (CGIA) • Cianbro Companies • Construction Labor Market

Analyzer (CLMA) • Current Builders • Fluor Corporation • Gaylor Electric, Inc. • GRANIX, LLC • Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance, Inc. (GBRIA) • Gulf States Shipbuilders Consortium (GSSC) • Hargrove • Jacobs • LPR Construction Company • McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. • National Academy

of Construction (NAC) • National Insulation Association (NIA) • National Maritime Education Council (NMEC) (Representing the Shipbuilding Industry) • National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) • North American Crane Bureau (NACB) • Pearson • Power Up, Inc. • S&B Engineers and Constructors • SkillsUSA • Southeastern Construction Owners and Associates Roundtable (SCOAR) • Southern States Automotive Contractors Association (SSACA) • Steel Erectors

Association of America (SEAA) • Sundt Construction, Inc. • The Association of Union Contractors (TAUC) • The Austin Company • The Dow Chemical Company • The Haskell Company • The Southern Company • TIC - The Industrial Company • Turner Industries Group, LLC • University of Colorado at Boulder

• University of Florida, M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management • University of Kentucky • Wayne J. Griffin Electric, Inc. • Willmar Electric Service

©NCCER 02/2019

The policies advocated in this document were developed by an industry-driven research team led by NCCER and the Construction Industry Institute (CII) and supported by the Construction Users Roundtable, Ironworkers/IMPACT and

representatives from CII member firms. The following organizations endorse these policies:

Read the full white paper at www.nccer.org/research.

BYF TODAYChanging the perceptions about careers in construction.

BUILD YOUR FUTURE TODAY GOAL Change the perceptions that parents, teachers, counselors and other influencers have about careers in construction with the ultimate goal being to recruit more young people into the industry. This will be accomplished using non-traditional but proven media methods to push out and spread messages – social media and YouTube, geotargeting and behavior targeting.

Changing perceptions is difficult to quantify into success metrics, but we will evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs) on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis.

KEY PERFORMANCEINDICATORS

• Interview Requests• Article Requests• Speaking Opportunities• Messages Picked Up on

Media Outlets• Website Analytics• Social Media Metrics• Video Metrics

INITIATIVE ELEMENTS

WEBSITE | discover.byf.orgAs we generate interest, we need a website to drive people to that contains the key concepts we are trying to instill about construction careers. This website was designed specifically for parents, teachers, counselors and other influencers to provide information on careers in construction in a way that resonates with them.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNSocial media has been identified as the key resource for spreading the concepts of BYF Today and driving traffic to the Discover website.

VIDEO100 million hours of video are watched every day on FaceBook, and YouTube has over 1 billion users, BYF Today will utilize video to get key concepts out to the general public with a specific focus on parents of teenagers and drive traffic to the Discover More site.

BYF TODAY SNAPSHOT OVERVIEW

2018 BYF WEBSITE | byf.orgAverage of 3,500 monthly visitors

Average of 11,000 monthly pageviews

2019 BYF WEBSITE | byf.org7,000 unique visitors in January

20,000 pageviews in January

2019 BYF TODAY WEBSITE | discover.byf.orgLaunched January 9, 20192,000 unique visitors

7,000 pageviews

WEBSITE METRICS

VIDEO METRICS • Produced 40 videos: New Foundations series, Success Stories, Social Media Short

videos. Available via YouTube, Discover More website, Facebook and Twitter• Filmed 40 “Did You Know” street interviews with UF students and adults this month.

Currently in editing. • Filmed 8 long-form interviews at Pathways with CTE educators and industry experts.

Currently in editing. • Filmed a short narrative — Life Without Construction. Currently in final stages of editing

with an upcoming release date. • Filmed a total of 1,000 gigabytes of footage for BYF today.

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO METRICSOver 16,500 video views on Facebook in January.

Nearly 4,000 minutes of video viewed on Facebook in January.Nearly 5,500 minutes of video viewed on YouTube in January.

SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS FACEBOOK | 2018 to 2019

82% increase of average reach of non-fans662% increase of total reach

(in the month of Jan. 2019, total reach alone was 110k)

TWITTER | 2018 to 2019835% increase of link clicks

442% increase of impressions (in the month of Jan. 2019, total impressions was 240k)

INSTAGRAMLaunched December 2018

LOOKING FORWARDDiscover America video series | Showcase construction sites throughout America

Podcast plan | Beginning quarter two, Discover More podcast will highlight topics such as construction image enhancement, recruitment, opportunities in the industry, success stories, and more. The podcast will help build familiarity with construction and answer questions about the industry.

BUILD YOUR FUTURE | SOCIAL MEDIA FUN FACTS

With the launch of the #DiscoverMore campaign and the implementation of new social media strategies, the Build Your Future Social Media Pages have made some incredible leaps:

In 2018, the BYF Facebook page averaged 29,349 reach per month. In January 2019, BYF earned 108,425 reach.

In 2018, the BYF Twitter account averaged 27,433 impressions per month. In January of 2019, BYF had 238,700 impressions.

B UILD Y OUR F UTURE

B UILD Y OUR F UTURE

@B UILDY OURF UTURED ISCOVERBYF

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nccer.org