There’s a surge in construction jobs in Missouri- especially to fix roads and bridges-thanks to federal and state support this year. Between July and August, the state gained 2,300 construction jobs, but while there’s a surge in opportunities- there’s a shortage of workers in the state filling these jobs.
Eddie Welsh, the chief operating officer of Capital, a Missouri construction contractor, has major public projects going all over Missouri.
Welsh and other contractors hire crews from neighboring states to fill the gaps. According to the Missouri Economic Research and Development Center, Missouri’s construction employment is projected to grow 13.11 percent by the year 2026.
Welsh says the industry should be going after 15 through 17-year-olds, who may not have to go to college to get a good-paying job
The other “plus” to the career is that field construction workers work eight to nine months a year.
Those wages are above the median income for the state of Missouri. Welsh and the construction industry group, AGC Missouri, praise the state’s tech schools for their skilled training programs.
