Some opinions suggest that the reason is that young people today are afraid of difficulties and hardships. This is true but not enough. The most important thing is still that the labor market has many choices as it is now, creating opportunities for each worker to have the right to consider between income and safety, stability and development opportunities.
When young people do not choose construction sites, first of all, the construction industry needs to look back at its own attractiveness.
Reality shows that salary is an important factor for workers to choose jobs, but not everything. A job can be paid high salaries for a few months but it is difficult to retain workers if they do not know where the next project is, whether the working hours are stable and how much rights are guaranteed.
Workers also find it difficult to stick with if today's job does not open up a better position in the future. After many years of working as workers, they need to see opportunities to become high-level workers, team leaders, technical staff or supervisors... If the career path is not clear, the construction site is easily seen as a temporary place to earn money, not a place to build a career.
Therefore, to solve the labor shortage problem, in addition to increasing wages, construction enterprises need to establish a more professional labor use system, from recruitment, training, skill assessment to salary payment and promotion.
There, people who work well, have experience and comply with safety must be entitled to a corresponding salary and position. Bonuses and penalties also need to be transparent, grounded and clearly announced, avoiding creating a feeling that employees are always in a weak position.
More importantly, the construction site must change its image from a place that mainly uses manpower to a technically skilled working environment. Machinery, equipment and technology not only help increase productivity but also reduce heavy and dangerous tasks.
On the other hand, workers also need to consider long-term benefits, avoiding ignoring a stable job for immediate comfort or temporary income. Legitimate rights need to be guaranteed, but must go hand in hand with discipline, responsibility, proactive vocational training and improving productivity. If you only make many demands without meeting job requirements, labor relations can hardly be sustainable.
The construction industry has, is and will need a large workforce to meet the increasing demand for infrastructure development.
When young people see their future in work, they will have a reason to enter the construction sites and stay.
