Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 16, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 17 MIDYEAR ECONOMIC FORECAST F O C U S Elizabeth Wambui, director of diversity, inclusion, and community impact for Fontaine Bros. difficulties in raising capital due to high interest rates, and uncertainty created by tariffs are also to blame, the country has seen a persistent increase in the amount of large construction projects falling by the wayside. e Project Stress Index composite, a metric created by construction soware and data provider ConstructConnect to measure the amount of preconstruction projects with delayed bid dates, placed on hold, or abandoned, climbed 11.4% in May to 122.8, compared to a 2021 weekly average of 100. Trump scaring workers In addition to playing a key role in making up for the state's low birth rate, immigrants represent nearly a quarter of employed construction workers and nearly a third of construction trades, according to 2022 data from e Center for Construction Research and Training. "e Congressional Budget Office did an estimation of what they thought international migration was going to look like in the future," Denis McAuliffe, research analyst for the UMass Donahue Institute, said during the May MERC conference. "It looks to be coming in at far less than what we're experiencing now and what we have experienced in the past, which could have severe effects for the Massachusetts population." CBO's projections say net U.S. immigration will fall to an average of 1.1 million people-per-year from 2027 to 2055, compared to 3.3 million net immigrants in 2023. Intense immigration-related rhetoric and enforcement from the President Donald Trump Administration, which has involved both the targeting of undocumented workers and those who have previously enjoyed protected legal status, is already impacting the con- struction space, Sullivan said. He said a pre-inauguration job fair saw plenty of immigrants in attendance, but one held a short time later drew barely any. "What's going on in Washington is scaring them," Sullivan said. "If im- migrants are either not coming into Massachusetts, or if they're already here and they're scared to surface, it's going to be a real problem." Another possible federal factor is the Trump Administration's targeting of the Job Corps program, where it has tried to shutter the schools in Graon and De- vens. Job Corps partners with businesses to teach at-risk students the skills neces- sary to start in-demand careers, such as construction and manufacturing. "e concept of [Job Corps] is to live on site, learning and immersing into the industry," Sullivan said. "To lose that, I think that's just terrible. It's unfortunate. It's gonna be a huge void in the recruit- ment process." Beyond pushing back against the com- plete elimination of Job Corps, Sullivan sees reform of construction ratios, which govern the ratio of apprentices to jour- neymen on job sites, as a key to bringing younger workers into the fold. "It's not cost effective, and it keeps people out of the industry," Sullivan said of rules in particular situations which require three journeymen per one apprentice. "Have you ever walked down the halls of a hospital and seen three or four doctors with one resident? at's what it is in construction." Overcoming preconceptions Apprenticeship goals, like the 10% goal set by the City of Worcester, are a step in the right direction, said Elizabeth Wam- bui, director of diversity, inclusion, and community impact for Fontaine Bros. Efforts like Building Pathways, a Boston-based nonprofit focused on re- cruiting and retaining underrepresented groups in the construction industry, are having an impact in attracting people to address workforce shortages, she said. "We need to encourage everyone to make sure that we are consistently bringing in folks, certainly to meet the goals, but also once you get people in the door, making sure we're keeping them," Wambui said. Busting young people's preconceived notions about construction is a key part in attracting the next generation of workers, said Fontaine. "Some people look at the industry and don't necessarily see that there's mobility be- yond the kind of journeyman career in the trades," he said, "We try to educate people that you can come into the trades as a laborer or a carpenter, and you can rise to the management lev- el, so there's not always the requirement to just be working with your hands for the rest of your life." Another important fact to drill home to prospective youth is the impact of emerging technology on the field, mak- ing brains just as important as brawns. "We're leaning into technology across our projects, which I think makes it more interesting," Fontaine said. "A lot of workers are using hammers and screw- guns, but they're also using lasers and survey equipment out there. So we try to showcase that at some of the career fairs." One benefit of large proj- ects, like the now-completed construction of Worcester's new Doherty Memorial High School, is they introduce prospective workers to the realities of modern construc- tion and allow for one-on-one interactions with tradespeo- ple, Wambui said. "We ask our project part- ners ... to help with these workforce efforts," she said. "With the Doherty High construction, through the project we were hosting a lot of career fairs and tours. We were able to draw a couple of folks from all that activity, who ended up joining the carpenter's union. e chal- lenges are there, but for all of us involved in this, we have to work together." Workers from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds are set to play a key role in ad- dressing workforce shortages in construction. Slow growth for construction workers While the national construction workforce rebounded quickly post-COVID, in Massachusetts the number of workers has remained fairly flat. Worcester County construction workers 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 0 2M 4M 6M 8M 10M 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 N/A 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Mass. construction workers U.S. construction workers Notes: Worcester County data is annual average, with the 2024 figure being a preliminary estimate. Mass. and U.S. figures are seasonally-adjusted figures from April of each year. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 0 2M 4M 6M 8M 10M 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 N/A 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 0 2M 4M 6M 8M 10M 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 N/A 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 W

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