Construction worker shortage at the end of the year

At the end of the year, the demand for construction workers increases, forcing many project owners to rush to find more workers to keep up with progress.

Looking for workers

For nearly a month now, Mr. Nguyen Van Chinh, a construction contractor in Thuy Nguyen Ward, has been looking for more construction workers but has only found a few. The project Mr. Chinh has taken on is in the final stages and needs a lot of workers.

Mr. Chinh said that from around the 8th lunar month onwards, construction enters the busiest time of the year. Families all want to complete their houses before Tet, so the construction progress is accelerated day by day. “At that time, it was difficult to find workers, and the construction teams were forced to split into smaller teams to meet orders,” Mr. Chinh said.

Mr. Chinh's team of workers usually schedule work from the beginning of the year, but towards the end of the year, the workload increases dramatically. Many additional projects arise such as: home renovations, renovations, upgrading items, building mausoleums... completion time is only calculated in a few weeks. "During peak periods, we have to divide into small groups to run many projects in parallel, helping homeowners feel secure about progress," Mr. Chinh shared.

In recent years, the demand for construction and repair of houses and civil works in the city has increased sharply. However, the construction workforce has not developed proportionally.

At the end of the year, construction workers are overwhelmed with work.

According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chung, a construction contractor with nearly 20 years of experience in Thach Khoi ward, labor shortages have become a common occurrence.

Mr. Chung said: “Young people now mainly go to industrial zones, few people follow the construction profession. Most of our workers are middle-aged, even many over 60 still help with mortar and carry bricks.”

Every year, Mr. Chung undertakes the construction of about 8-10 houses, but to ensure the progress as committed to the homeowner, he has to calculate the work schedule very closely. At the peak of the year, the workload increases rapidly. There are projects where his team of workers have to work overtime to complete the interior in time, meeting the homeowner's wishes.

“Last month, we had to go to the highlands to recruit workers to train as construction workers. Although it took time, we still had workers to meet the job requirements,” said Mr. Chung.

Not only civil works but also many large and key projects of the city are being accelerated, attracting a large number of construction workers. Therefore, towards the end of the year, construction human resources become increasingly scarce.

The "golden" time to increase income

At the end of the year, construction workers also have quite good income.

Calculating the salary she will receive this month, Ms. Pham Thi Han in Nam Trieu ward, who works as a mortar assistant on construction sites, said: "This month, I should have earned nearly 20 million VND. This morning, the person in charge of the project promised to give each person an additional 1 million VND if they complete the project about half a month ahead of schedule."

Construction pace usually increases sharply in the last months of the year. This is also the time that brings the highest income to construction workers, when labor and daily wages are both pushed up. People can choose to hand over the whole package to the contractor in the form of "turnkey" or hire each item separately such as rough construction, electricity, water, steel... Regardless of the method, the contractor and the main worker always have to calculate the cost carefully to agree with the homeowner.

If in the middle of the year the price for rough construction including masonry, plastering, formwork installation and iron tying is about 1.1 - 1.2 million VND/m² of floor, at the end of the year it can increase to 1.4 - 1.5 million VND/m². Electrician and plumber groups will calculate the cost based on the area, number of rooms, number of bathrooms and complexity of the design.

The daily wage of construction workers also has a differentiation and increases significantly at the end of the year. Currently, main construction workers are usually paid from 500,000 - 600,000 VND/day depending on their skills; assistant workers 400,000 - 450,000 VND/day depending on their ability and health. Those who do highly technical steps such as painting and decorating can receive up to 700,000 - 800,000 VND/day, an increase of 10 - 20% compared to mid-year.

Electricians, plumbers, and ironworkers who can design and construct complete projects can earn even higher incomes. During peak times, many farmworkers also work as construction workers to supplement their family income.

The demand for construction in Hai Phong is expected to continue to increase in the coming years. Although there are more and more supporting machines, they still cannot completely replace operations that require human dexterity. Therefore, the team of highly skilled construction workers continues to play an important role and needs to be trained more thoroughly in techniques, aesthetics as well as labor safety.

HAI MINH

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/khan-hiem-tho-xay-cuoi-nam-528721.html