Colorado's construction landscape currently understaffed by 10,000 workers

KUSA - It is not news to say Denver is growing. Nor is it really news to say cranes have become as much of a staple of the contemporary Denver skyline as the Republic Plaza.

What is news is that all those cranes don’t have nearly enough construction workers operating behind them.

Colorado’s construction landscape is currently understaffed by 10,000 workers. It’s a number that reflects a trend that started decades ago.

“If I look at it from a chronological occurrence of those challenges, it goes back from the last two generations of parents saying 'Have better opportunities than I had or work smarter not harder,' " said Michael Smith, a construction worker in Denver that began the Colorado Homebuilding Academy.

CHA provides a free eight-week course to 30 students who are interested in going into construction. He created the program years ago as a way to combat the growing need for construction workers. The course costs around $1,400 per student and is funded by private investors as well as federal grants.

“The bottom line is if we don't have people to build our houses we're not going to build the ones we need,” he said.

Read the full story from our news partners, 9News.

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