HORRY CO., SC (WBTW)- A nationwide construction worker shortage is affecting Horry County.
More construction workers retiring and not enough people taking their place it’s slowing down builders.
“Because of the downturn in the economy from 2008, some people just never really got back into it and some people lost interest in the construction industry at that time,” said Randy Hann, president of Contract Exeriors.
Hann said that coupled with fewer trade schools is why they’ve seen decrease in skilled labor workers the last two years.
“There’s a stigma with it there’s a thing with construction, and there’s a lot of successful people with it and carpenters across the nation. They could be making over 50 thousand dollars a year and they don’t understand that,” said Hann.
According to the National Home Builders Association, at the beginning of the year there were 250,000 unfilled construction jobs. Nationwide, they predict 900,000 homes will be built when they need 1.2 million to keep up with demand.
Locally, new construction isn’t able to keep up with demand. Myrtle Beach alone issued 200 more permits than the previous year to build single family homes.
“The lead times have increased on our jobs. The time we used to sell a job and produce a jobincreased because we cant always get enough bodies on the job like we used to,” said Hann.
That’s why the Horry Georgetown Home builders Association teamed up with Horry Georgetown Tech and Horry County Schools to help redevelop the work force.
“There’s a lot of people out there that really like working with their hands that like being in construction and always thought well I don’t want to do construction and once you get them involved they really love it,” said Hann.
Hann said they also plan to bring 8th graders to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to teach them about the construction industry before they even get to high school.
He also said it could be a couple of years before the construction worker shortage is over.
