There’s a dramatic shortage of those who build and finish new homes. Plumbers, electricians — all kinds of skilled workers are needed, and will be in coming years.
But where are the people to take those jobs?
New Mexico Home Builders Association Executive Vice President and CEO Jack Milarch said there might be people to fill that need.
This Southwest-style home is an example of the homes built by Las Ventanas Homes. There’s a dramatic shortage of the people who build and finish new homes today.
| Las Ventanas Homes
Milarch, 72, has been in charge of the NMHBA for 40 years. He said it’s worth considering a new option to find workers. The fact, is, the lack of skilled workers is a “huge, huge, huge issue,” he said, and it’s time to look at new options.
“We just suggested to the congressional delegation that all those kids that they're holding in pens down on the border, why don't we teach them a little bit of construction trades while they're sitting there doing nothing else?” Milarch told New Mexico Sun. “How far that'll get them? It was an idea.”
Staffers with the New Mexico Home Builders Association met with representatives of its congressional delegation in 2015-2016 when large numbers of adults sought asylum. They asked if construction trades training could be offered to detained people while they waited, in some cases two to three years, for their asylum requests to be decided.
Immigrants waiting for asylum determinations are not provided temporary work permits and will have their asylum request denied if they work illegally in the interim. However, they are required to show they can become gainfully employed if their asylum request is granted.
It’s an idea that seemed beneficial to all then and still does five years later.
Milarch said that as New Mexico and other states face a shortage of skilled workers at the same time as an increased demand for housing, it’s a proposal that could work. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there will be a need for 10s of thousands of electricians, plumbers, HVAC workers and other skilled tradesmen in the coming decade.
The shortage has been building since the Great Recession of 2007-09, when many smaller businesses closed. Now, as thousands of longtime workers retire, a sufficient amount people are not available to replace them.
“The Albuquerque Journal today had something that the average age of a construction worker,” he said. “And it was up to the point where those guys wake up every morning hurting. I know they do.”
“That has been going on five or six years back, and again as this goes on and on, it goes up and down, up and down,” he said. “Yes, we're in that part of this cycle right now.”
Milarch said many people thrown out of work in 2020 aren’t eager to return, especially with bountiful state and federal unemployment compensation readily available.
“And we've complained to our congressional delegation about paying people to stay home and not work,” he said. “And we do think that that is contributing to our problem.”
Another issue is cultural, as young people are not entering the fields in the numbers they once did.
“You know, the high schools used to routinely have jobs and we all took shop class back in the day and all that,” said Milarch, who grew up on a farm and learned how to work with his hands. “Nobody does that anymore.”
He said efforts are underway to encourage high schools and community colleges to institute some programs. Some firms also offer internships and on-the-job training.
“And I think we're starting to get some traction with that,” Milarch said. “We’ve talked to the governor. We talked to lieutenant governor about these things. Lt. Gov. Howie Morales ... education is his thing. I've been talking to him for five years about this. He's on to this. He understands it. He came from a background where he understands these kind of things. And so, I think our state government is trying to emphasize this, but for this time around, it's too little, too late.”