With an aging workforce and few new workers entering the sector, cities could find themselves short of the workers needed to build and maintain projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
According to a Brookings Institution report, the infrastructure sector is facing a ‘silver tsunami’ as a large portion of the workforce reaches retirement age, prompting concerns about who will build the many infrastructure projects being pushed through thanks to federal funding. As Kery Murakami writes in Route Fifty, “The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 1.7 million people employed in the infrastructure sector will leave their jobs each year between 2021 and 2031.”
This is due in large part to the demographics of the infrastructure workforce. According to Murakami, “nearly three-fourths of transit and intercity bus drivers are 45 years old or older, as are 55.7% of power distributors and dispatchers and 53.8% of rail yard engineers.” The situation is even more dire in the transit sector, where “Up to 50% of bus maintenance employees are eligible to retire in the next three to five years.” Meanwhile, “Only 11% of infrastructure workers are 24 years or younger.”
The difficulty of infrastructure jobs also means fewer young workers are entering the industry, and more workers are opting out. “The number of workers leaving jobs in construction, transportation, warehousing, and utilities for other jobs grew by almost 20% last year.”
FULL STORY: The ‘Silver Tsunami’ Expected to Hit the Infrastructure Sector
Retaining Transit Workers Is About More Than Wages
An analysis of California transit employees found a high rate of burnout among operators who face unpredictable work schedules, high housing costs, and occasional violence.
FTA Issues Draft Directive on Transit Worker Safety
The agency says assaults on transit workers are at ‘unacceptable’ levels.
How Inequality Impacts Transit Safety
Transit workers are being assaulted by riders at alarming rates, and inequity may be partly to blame.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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