PROBLEM:

There are a number of owners, local user councils, contractors and labor unions that individually engage in local and/or regional labor supply and demand surveys.  However, there is no comprehensive effort or “glue” that links all of this information together to create a complete craft construction labor picture in the United States.

What are common, are the typical “going out of business” graphs that demonstrate a tremendous need in the short term, but fail to adequately depict a true picture of the long-term need. As the peak of the demand graph advances, we discover that the end of construction will be postponed, again.

We must have a thorough and reliable understanding of the labor supply and demand circumstances in order to adequately plan construction and maintenance projects. 

SOLUTION:

In November 2008,CWDC will launch www.cwdcforecasting.com.  In collaboration with the Construction Users Roundtable, this site has been designed to collect information on major industrial capital and maintenance projects and turnarounds, as well as labor supply data.  This tool is intended to be unbiased towards open shop and closed shop labor and will use information collected and assimilated to provide a comprehensive understanding of craft labor supply and demand by state, region and nationally.  The tool will also enable the user to develop predictive forecasting models to eliminate the typical “going out of business” curves that frustrate the ability to adequately plan.

The CWDC Forecasting Model is available without subscription cost to the user and is patterned after the successful Labor Market Link being used in Canada.  Access to the comprehensive data will be limited to those that participate by inputting supply and/or demand data for the model. 

Benefit to Owners:

·      Reliable web-based tracking system to maintain data on current and proposed projects

·      Ability to view regional summary information on total construction labor requirements

·      Easy access to input information on a regular basis

·      Secure interface to ensure confidentiality of individual owner project information

·      Common methodology and broader owner participation

·      Lower cost than the traditional method of conducting regional ad hoc surveys

Benefit to Contractors:

·      Timely data to assist with recruiting and training strategies

·      Reliable web-based tracking system to understand labor supply & demand

Benefit to Local User Councils (LUC):

·      LUC's can provide data more timely than current annual surveys

·      Data will be more comprehensive than LUC's are currently able to collect, including information outside the LUC region

·      Improved regional forecasting data to members without incurring the survey cost

·      Membership growth potential

The initial phase of the CWDC Forecasting Model is focused on industrial construction.  The second phase of the model will link industrial construction data with commercial construction and other economic data to provide a complete, comprehensive picture of the U.S. construction market.