Construction industry fears a skilled-trades shortage Christina Varga Published February 23, 2021
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Like so many other sectors, the trades are not immune from the wave of baby boomers set to retire in the coming decade, adding urgency to the recruitment of younger and underrepresented people, those in construction say.
“By 2029, we will be short about 100,000 tradespeople if we don’t do anything,” says Kieran Hawe, chief operating officer of construction services company EllisDon Corp. The concern for the Mississauga-based company is that this could slow down projects and increase costs.
While the pandemic has resulted in a short-term slowdown and job losses for the construction industry, the long-term outlook will be largely affected by the retiring generation, industry insiders say; this will require efforts to recruit new blood to the skilled trades.
Coronavirus pandemic forces nearly fifth of Brits to spend their retirement funds early
A new report has discovered that Covid-19 is also delaying retirement plans by an average of two and a half years.
Covid-19 has forced some over 50s into early retirement (Image: Getty Images)
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Brian BernardSector Director
Brian Colello, CPA, is director of technology, media, and telecom equity research for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. In addition to leading Morningstar’s technology, media, and telecom sector team, he covers semiconductor and hardware companies. Colello was a senior equity analyst before assuming his current role in 2015.Before joining Morningstar in 2008, he worked in public accounting for KPMG and served as a manager in corporate finance for BMG Music, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann AG.Colello holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bucknell University and a master’s degree in business administration from Wake Forest. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.