SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Sioux Falls is the seventh hottest market for construction jobs in the country.
“The metro area added 1,100 construction jobs between August 2018 and August 2019. That’s a 12 percent rate of growth,” says Spokesman Brian Turmail with the Associated General Contractors of America.
Turmail was visiting Southeast Tech to tout the new numbers and to highlight old challenges. There are plenty of jobs, but too few trained workers.
“It is a little bit like that Willie Nelson song, too many mamas don’t want their babies to grow up to be construction workers,” jokes Turmail to make a serious point, that vocational education has been virtually ignored for too many years in favor of college education.
The local chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America is supporting programs at Southeast Tech to expose more high school students to the benefits of a career in the construction industry.
Turmail has been traveling the country talking about ways to address significant worker shortages in the industry.
