Getting workers who once built homes to build gas pipelines, light-rail tracks and commercial buildings has become a key challenge for the state’s construction industry.
“There has to be some transfer of the workforce from residential to commercial,” said Michael Gifford, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado.
To that end, the contractors’ group, along with Denver’s Office of Workforce Development, sponsored a construction-industry job fair Wednesday at the National Western Complex.
New-home sales in metro Denver were down from more than 17,700 in 2005 to fewer than 9,000 in 2007, according to the Genesis Group, a real estate research firm.
“While the housing boom might be busted, we still have a need for construction workers that fit into other types of construction,” said Paula Gomez Farrell, Denver’s director of workforce development.
Bond initiatives passed in Denver last November along with RTD’s FasTracks should provide years of work. And schools and health care facilities continue to be built.
“We have lots of work,” said John Herrera, a project superintendent with Adolfson & Peterson Construction in Aurora, who spent the morning talking to a long line of job seekers.
Even if the housing bust flattens construction employment for several years, contractors still must cope with the loss of older workers leaving physically demanding jobs.
Denver resident Lee Adams is taking courses in construction management after 16 years out in the field doing concrete work. At 36, he hopes to find something a little easier on his back.
Fort Collins high school student Aaron Gonzales acknowledges that young people excited about doing physical work are in the minority.
“I can’t sit at a desk,” said Gonzales, who wants to work with heavy machinery after he graduates in May.
Some older job seekers, such as David Hanna of Fort Collins, described year- or years-long searches that have found only low-wage positions and requirements to move.
“It is hard to find good jobs,” he said.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
