Vice President, Government Relations & Business Development, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock The forum also discussed workplace culture and ensuring the infrastructure workforce feels valued and appreciated. Other solutions discussed during the forum included co-op programs for students considering infrastructure careers and allowing flexibility using Pell Grants and 529 funds for vocational programs. They say these programs have helped create a pipeline of workers to further their careers.
Panelist Anna Enrich with Nucor talked about her company’s apprenticeship programs, where workers are split between education and work experience to help them develop their skills. ASCE President Maria Lehman, who led the conversation, called workforce challenges “the 800-pound gorilla in the room” as the public and private sector deal with increasing competition for workers and a growing number of employees retiring after successful careers. The first panel, Recruiting & Retaining Today’s Infrastructure Workforce, focused on recruiting and retaining the infrastructure workforce. The companies and government agencies that help build and maintain America’s infrastructure are working to develop solutions to retain the current workforce and draw in future engineers.Īs part of Infrastructure Week, ASCE held two panels with leading industry and government experts on finding solutions as the infrastructure workforce evolves. The civil engineering profession currently faces a worker shortage, and the vast percentage of experienced engineers expected to retire within the next 10 years – or “Silver Tsunami” as some have called it – will only exacerbate the issue. One key to successful implementation is ensuring there are workers to design and build those systems. As the money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes its way into communities across America, the engineering, manufacturing, and construction industries are doing everything they can to ensure all Americans see the benefits of this once-in-a-generation legislation to improve the roads, bridges, water pipelines, and other infrastructure systems Americans rely on every day.
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