By Jason Fincke, Executive Director
Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania, Inc.

Pittsburgh, PA -- A new study by the Construction Industry Institute® has confirmed what building trade unions and their affiliated contractors across the country have espoused for years—that investments in bona fide training programs as commonly provided by building trade unions reap significant benefits for workers and contractors, including significantly reduced project costs.

According to the study, “. . . on a single capital construction project, each dollar invested in craft training can yield $1.30 to $3.00 in benefits. The benefits accrue to the project in the form of increased productivity and reductions in turnover, absenteeism and rework, as well as in other areas.”

The study, “Construction Industry Craft Training in the United States and Canada,” was conducted by a research team consisting of individuals who, combined, had more than 375 years of experience in the construction industry. Issued in November 2007, the study was supported by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT).

Among other findings, the study recognized the substantial investment building trade unions and their affiliated contractors place into training, while noting that funding in the merit shop (non-union) sector has “fallen short in many geographic areas.” This investment has generated significant benefits for union members and savings for union contractors.

In Western Pennsylvania, local union apprenticeship programs invest more than $11 million annually in training, and offer well structured apprenticeship programs that are relied upon to maintain a productive pool of highly skilled and qualified workers. The success of these programs mirrors findings in the training study, which found that more than 80% of union workers complete off-the-job (apprenticeship) training as compared to only about 40% of open shop (non-union) workers.

The study also concluded that workers who complete off-the-job training programs tend to have more pride in their work than workers without training. If a worker believes that there are more opportunities to receive training, which is prevalent among union building trade workers, they also tend to believe that the projects that they work on are better managed and they experience higher productivity.

Workers who receive on and off-the-job training also tend to earn a higher wage rate. According to the study, if other independent variables are fixed, a union apprenticeship-trained worker can typically earn approximately $3.60 more per hour than a worker without apprenticeship training. Workers with formal training also were found to be more satisfied in their careers than workers without formal training.

Such statistics are important to consider as building trade unions and their contractors seek to recruit more men and women to accommodate the increased demand for construction workers and to compensate for a decline in workers due to retirements. According to the Construction Labor Research Council, 185,000 new workers will need to be recruited, trained and retained each year up to 2016 to meet both the demand for work and increased retirements. Other research estimates the rate to be between 200,000 and 250,000 new craft workers needed annually.

One area that is viewed as being favorable in retaining or attracting workers in the construction industry is the availability of training, a strength of organized building trade unions.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 construction workers, training would:

• Allow them to enjoy their work more
• Keep them on a project longer
• Allow for more responsibility with their job
• Offer them a more challenging job
• Provide them with better pay for their work
• Provide them for more rewarding work; and
• Allow them to work for the same company longer.

Studies have shown over the years that craft training improves productivity, reduces turnover, improves quality, reduces absenteeism and improves safety. Such benefits are among the reasons union building trades and their contractors invest heavily in worker training. It is an investment that pays off for the workers in terms of higher pay and job satisfaction and for contractors and communities through reduced project costs.

The Construction Industry Institute® is a consortium of more than 100 leading owner, engineering-contractor, and suppliers from the public and private sector, which have joined together to enhance the business effectiveness and sustainability of the capital facility life cycle through research, related initiatives, and industry alliances.

# # #

A R C H I V E S

For The Good Of The Community, Prevailing Wages Must Prevail!

Worker Misclassification Creates an Unlevel Playing Field

A Feeling of Ownership

Opportunities knocking, but for whom?

CONSOL Energy Center

The Builders Guild: Ten Years and Growing

On Behalf Of All Of Us

Hurdles Growing Higher For Area Developers

International Study Confirms Value of Union Apprenticeship and Job Training Programs

Help wanted in the building trades

Skilled, professional workforce lures developers