More trained workers needed to increase housing supply, ease affordability

“Boosting housing supply requires training and placing thousands more skilled workers in good-paying jobs,” Brady said. “That is urgently necessary as many of those in the trades have aged out or left the sector permanently for other opportunities. As a nation, we need to build the next generation of skilled tradespeople.

“That means recruiting more women. It means training and placing minority, lower income, and opportunity youth for good-paying jobs as an important way to fight against social inequity,” the CEO added. “It means providing trade skills education to veterans and transitioning military. And it means reaching out to secondary school students, and those who influence their decisions, to change their perception of careers in the trades.”

Brady said the problem can be mitigated by expanding trade skills education in secondary schools and community colleges, and industry-sponsored facilities and community programs. “The valuable skills learned in training programs help graduates receive the dignity, respect, pay and benefits they deserve. In turn, training increases productivity which allows employers to meet the compensation requirements driven by today’s competitive labor market,” he said.

The National Association of Home Builders now is forecasting an economic downturn for 2023. But the long-term deficit of housing is expected to remain during any cyclical, interest-rate driven recession, according to NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz: “This research shows us that this housing and skilled labor shortage crisis is not going away,” he said.