When skilled workers are missing: what the construction industry can do about the skills shortage

Whether bricklayer, electrician or tinsmith – many construction trades face the same problem: qualified skilled workers are increasingly hard to find and there is not enough young talent coming through.

The skills shortage in construction: a look at the numbers

The skills shortage is already being felt in the Swiss construction industry today – and the forecasts are clear: the situation is likely to get worse in the coming years. According to the 2023 Swiss Master Builders Association study (SBV) on the skills shortage in the Swiss main construction sector, demand for skilled workers will grow to around 33,750 people by 2040 as revenue rises. At the same time, the available supply of skilled workers will fall to roughly 28,150 employees. If current trends continue and no additional countermeasures are taken, that would leave 11.3 percent missing as early as 2030 and around 16.6 percent of the required skilled workers missing in 2040. Put differently: by 2040, one in six positions would remain unfilled.

There are, however, large differences between the individual construction trades:

The skills gap is developing particularly dramatically among bricklayers, construction foremen and master builders. According to the forecast, among bricklayers 21 percent of the required skilled workers will already be missing in 2030, and by 2040 that share will rise to as much as 31 percent.

The picture is similar for construction foremen: here the projected gap will grow from 22 percent in 2030 to a full 33 percent in 2040. If the trend continues unchanged, that would mean nearly one in three required skilled workers missing in both trades over the long term.

And for master builders too, a marked worsening of the situation is expected in the long run: while the projected skills gap is still eight percent in 2030, by 2040 it will already stand at 29 percent.

A key driver of this development is the age structure of the workforce: in numerous construction trades, a large proportion of today's skilled workers will reach retirement age in the coming years.

The skills shortage is therefore unlikely to resolve itself. At the same time, there are various levers the construction industry can use – both in attracting and retaining skilled workers and in managing the human resources it already has.

The skills shortage: where the construction industry can start

Making construction trades more attractive – and attracting young talent

Work on construction sites is still often associated with physical strain, working in all weathers and a rough working environment. Yet everyday working life has long since changed in many areas – and that change will have to continue. Digital technologies, modern machinery and new working methods make physically demanding tasks easier and at the same time create new, technically demanding roles.

For this change to reach potential young talent, direct insights into what the job actually involves are crucial. With taster days, careers fairs or insights via social media, the construction industry is already taking this approach and showing young people concretely how construction trades have changed and what the work involves today. This is a path worth continuing. Step by step, a more realistic picture of construction work can emerge – beyond the long-held assumptions that still shape the industry's image.

But it is not only the image of construction trades that needs to develop. Working conditions also have to keep pace with changing expectations of working life. A better work-life balance and more flexible working-time and part-time models will therefore become increasingly important in construction too. In an industry where fixed site hours and well-established processes have long left little room for flexible models, new solutions are needed. The better construction companies manage to combine modern working methods with contemporary working conditions, the more attractive the industry will become for the next generation.

Creating development opportunities – and retaining skilled workers

More young talent alone will not close the skills gap if trained skilled workers leave the industry at the same time. Among bricklayers in particular, the Swiss Master Builders Association counts the departure of already qualified workers among the factors making the skills shortage worse.

Alongside recruiting new skilled workers, the question of how to create long-term prospects within the industry is therefore becoming more prominent. One important key lies in further training. It opens up various paths – from technical specializations through to qualifying for more senior roles. At the same time, new tasks and areas of responsibility can create development opportunities directly in everyday work. The more varied these paths become, the more opportunities skilled workers have to develop professionally without having to leave the company or the industry.

Opening up new target groups – attracting women and career changers

When the usual recruitment channels do not produce enough young talent, attention increasingly turns to those groups that have so far been underrepresented in many construction trades.

The proportion of women in particular still differs markedly between the individual construction trades. While women have long been better represented in some areas, other traditional construction trades remain strongly male-dominated. As the work changes, new opportunities could open up here: technical aids reduce the most physically demanding tasks, while more flexible working models can make access easier across different life situations. The industry's image also plays a role – the more naturally women are addressed as potential skilled workers as early as careers guidance, the more the composition of the industry can change in the long term.

Another source of potential lies with career changers. Particularly when the classic training routes do not produce enough skilled workers, it is worth looking at people who already bring professional experience and skills from other fields. With suitable qualification opportunities, changing careers can become a viable route to attracting new skilled workers into construction.

Driving digitalization forward – and deploying existing skilled workers more efficiently

But even if the industry succeeds in attracting more young talent and new target groups to construction while retaining more skilled workers, the skills gap probably cannot be closed entirely. Alongside the question of how to attract more skilled workers, a second one therefore comes to the fore: how can the available human resources be deployed as effectively as possible?

An important role here is played by digitalization. Digital processes can simplify administrative tasks, speed up workflows and free up time that is in short supply elsewhere.

Where staff resources are tight, forward-looking workforce planning also becomes more important: knowing early which skilled workers are needed when and where, and what capacity is still available, makes it possible to deploy existing staff more purposefully and spot bottlenecks sooner. This is exactly where digital resource and capacity planning such as Vanillaplan can help. It provides an overview of which employees are scheduled on which projects, where capacity is still available and where staffing bottlenecks are emerging.

Digitalization and forward-looking planning cannot solve the skills shortage. But they can help to deploy the available skilled workers where they are genuinely needed – and to make the best possible use of increasingly scarce human resources.