This industry will see the biggest economic growth in coming years

The United States may be building toward a new economic boom, but it’s not stemming from the growing tech field as many might assume.

The Washington Post reports that “housing is set to eat the U.S. economy,” meaning construction will be an industry that should benefit in the next five years. Author Conor Sen argues multiple points: that the recent financial crisis slowed down construction of single-family homes that still need to be built, that  housing needs for the millennial generation are likely to grow and whoever becomes the next president (Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump) is likely to throw a lot of money at infrastructure projects — be it roads or a massive wall. Add that up and you have an equation that favors the construction industry.

Related: ‘Mismatch’ in Seattle’s tech job market is seeing a drastic shift

Seattle is already familiar with building booms like this, as thousands of new residents are expected to flock to the city in the years and decades to come. The city is also rushing to catch up since housing options are increasingly lacking.

But KIRO Radio’s Tom and Curley note that while a construction boom may be on the horizon, there may not be enough people to support it.

“They estimate that they will need an additional 550,000-600,000 construction workers,” Tom Tangney said. “The problem is right now we have record lows for construction employment … the people that are attracted to construction tend to be people without college degrees. We are graduating more and more people from college — it’s gone up by 25 million since 1992.”

“How are we going to be able to withstand the push toward construction?” he asked.

In fact, the Puget Sound region, despite experiencing a building boom, has already experienced problems with construction worker shortages. In 2015, the Seattle area added more construction jobs than any other city in the country by a hiring growth of 13 percent. But companies could not count on unemployed people to have the skills they needed, therefore, a practice of poaching from competitors has occurred.

According to John Curley, a cultural shift is needed.

“People that are in their 20s, rather than looking at college and sitting in an air-conditioned building and doing something on a laptop, will have to think of themselves as putting on a hard hat, dirty boots, and heading into the field and building something with a hammer,” Curley said. “Right now, if given the choice between the two, I would assume most people would rather sit down and be comfortable as opposed to being hot and sweaty and working hard.”

To cross the gap between that choice, according to Tom, construction workers will need to be paid more.

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