Report: 1.7 million infrastructure workers expected to retire in coming decade
Over the last year, communities across the United States were recipients of an unprecedented investment from the federal government into infrastructure. Between the American Rescue Plan Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, it’s been a historic year for local governments.
But with that investment, there’s a looming problem that threatens to undermine success: the impending retirement of legacy workers.
“National, state, and local leaders risk squandering this window of opportunity if they focus only on future job creation without addressing the cracking foundation of the country’s current workforce,” reads a report from The Brookings Institute by Joseph Kane titled “Seizing the U.S. Infrastructure Opportunity: Investing in Current and Future Workers.” “How can leaders expand the future infrastructure workforce if they cannot even hold onto the current one? Many infrastructure leaders have experience building projects, but far less in collaborating with workforce partners or recruiting and retaining talent.”
Advocates of the infrastructure initiatives have lauded the federal investment as an economic boon that’s expected to “create millions of good-paying jobs” on top of current employment numbers, according to a White House fact sheet. Currently, the Brookings report notes infrastructure-related roles keep 16.6 million people employed nationally.
But as jobs are created, the Bureau of Labor Statistics project that more than 10% of highly skilled and advanced employees working in infrastructure will retire each year for the next decade.
“From 2021 to 2031, projections show 1.7 million infrastructure workers (12.2%) leaving their jobs each year on average, leading to huge replacement needs,” the report says. “Moreover, these holes may be even bigger to fill than any projected job growth from new federal infrastructure funding, which estimate up to 1.5 million new jobs created annually over the next decade.”
Lack of diversity—especially among management and advanced workers—is driving concerns. Most infrastructure workers are getting closer to retirement age, and are expected to leave their positions around the same time.
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