Fast Fact: Housing Shortage, Decline of Construction Workers
Numerous factors have converged to create a housing shortage in the U.S., one of which is the lack of construction labor.
Due to a combination of many workers leaving the industry during the recession, fewer people attending trade schools and a decline in immigrants and undocumented workers, builders struggle to find workers, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The number of construction workers in residential construction fell 44.8 percent from 2006 to 2011, losing almost half of the total workers. Since 2011, the industry has slowly gained employees, but is still 23 percent shy of numbers in 2006.