An educational phenomenon known as Construction Career Days (CCD) is sweeping across the United States and generating hopes it will help ease a worsening skilled labor shortage in the construction industry.

Designed to introduce young people to the many job opportunities in construction, this evolving workforce development tool has grown from a single construction career fair in Texas in 1999 to CCD events planned in more than 30 states for 2007. As of the end of 2006, nearly 150,000 students had attended these events.

CCD events offer high school students educational displays and hands-on experience with construction equipment, materials and services. Exhibits are presented by construction companies, engineering firms, government agencies, equipment dealers, and building trades, among others.

Many exhibitors provide equipment and instructors who teach students how to operate backhoes, excavators, aerial lifts, paving machines, compactors, and other construction machinery. These volunteers also help students try concrete finishing, welding, cutting and burning, electrical work, carpentry, masonry, and surveying.

In addition, young people learn about a variety of construction techniques including directional boring, concrete cutting, pipe bending, rigging, and fusing pipe. Other field instruction is provided on a number of construction safety issues related to logging, crane operations and working in confined spaces. What's more, the youths receive information about curriculums at technical colleges, trade schools and certification programs that serve the construction industry.

CCD resulted from a growing awareness in the industry that the ranks of skilled construction workers are thinning out, while the average age of those still working is climbing (currently 47).

Construction leaders also realized they have done a poor job of attracting young people to the industry. One of the reasons: The prevalent image of the industry among young people seems to be that it provides primarily dirty, low-paying jobs requiring minimal intelligence, with little chance of advancement in an industry of no consequence. In one poll, when asked to grade 250 occupations in terms of desirability, youths ranked construction 249th.

This image flies in the face of reality. Construction plays a disproportionate role in America's economy, providing 5 percent of the total non-farm workforce while contributing 9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. In 2006, the value of construction put in place was $1.2 trillion, built by workers whose pay averaged $20.51 per hour — 20-percent higher than average for all private industry non-supervisory workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In addition, the more skilled the workers, the more money they make. According to the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), craft professionals can make between $25,000 and $75,000 a year and more, with many advancing to management where they can make over $100,000 annually.

Compounding the industry's problem in attracting youths, a large percentage of today's skilled construction workers are baby boomers who are retiring in increasing numbers. Members of the post-World War II generation born between 1946 and 1964, baby boomers represented a spike in the national birth rate, which ranged from 24.1 live births per 1,000 in 1946 to 21.1 per 1,000 in 1964 according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Resources. The birth rate has fallen sharply ever since. In 2005, it registered 14.0.

Even though the pool of workers available for skilled construction jobs is shrinking, the industry needs 240,000 craftsmen and women every year to keep up with all the construction projects nationwide, says NCCER.

The impending crisis in labor availability hit home in the 1990s in Texas, with a decline in construction quality and a reduction in the numbers of bidders for highway projects. This was attributed to a severe shortage of skilled labor. Four individuals involved in the highway construction industry, Mike LaPointe, Greg Mooney, Humberto Martinez, and Ross Martinez, began discussions focusing on strategies to address the shortage. Mooney suggested marketing the construction industry and career opportunities within it among high school students. This gave birth to the idea of putting on a Construction Career Fair.

The original caucus of four quickly became a large Working Group as other people concerned about worker shortages offered to help organize the Construction Career Fair. It was held March 2-5, 1999, in Lewisville, Texas, with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Texas Department of Transportation, Associated General Contractors of Texas, and others contributing time and money. Equipment distributors and construction firms donated equipment and operators for demonstrations. Approximately 1,300 students and teachers from 25 schools attended the event.

With that first successful event behind them, the Working Group decided to hold similar fairs elsewhere in Texas and in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Its name eventually changed to Construction Career Days, the movement expanded considerably in just eight years. In 2007, about 40 CCD events are expected to be held in more than 35 states.

Observing that the number of CCD events was multiplying rapidly, FHWA officials saw a need for a centralized source of information and technical assistance for host sites. The agency designated the University of Rhode Island Transportation Center (URITC), in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT), as the National Construction Career Days Center (NCCDC). Financial support for the center is provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation through the University Transportation Centers Program.

URITC is well positioned to serve as a clearinghouse, since it was originally set up in 1999 to provide education, research, technology transfer, and outreach for surface transportation systems and advanced transportation infrastructure.

Working with FHWA's Rhode Island Division office, the new partnership assists state and local committees in reaching students who are capable of entering the transportation construction industry. Among its many services the center provides are:

• on-call technical assistance,
• an informative website, www.constructioncareerdays.us,
• a newsletter highlighting CCD events and other information,
• a database tracking CCD events,
• CCD workshops, and
• an advisory group.

Additional information on the center can be obtained by contacting: National Construction Career Days Center, Carlotti Administration Building, 75 Lower College Road, Kingston, RI 02881