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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Construction Coverage.

The construction industry in the U.S. has no shortage of demand these days.

The intense real estate market of the last two-plus years highlighted the shortage of housing stock in the United States. Construction companies have been trying to catch up: earlier in 2022, housing starts reached their highest levels in more than 15 years. Meanwhile, funds from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021 are now working their way to contractors and construction businesses. While increased costs for labor and materials, rising interest rates, and recession fears are causing concern in the industry, the long-term outlook for the field is promising.

These recent trends could continue an upward trajectory for construction spending in the U.S. The construction industry faced lean years after the Great Recession, but has grown steadily since. Annual spending in the sector fell by more than a third from a peak of $1.21 trillion in 2006 to $758 billion in 2011. But over the ensuing decade, spending more than doubled. As of June 2022, construction spending in the U.S. totaled $1.76 trillion per year.

But with high demand in the field, construction companies have struggled to find enough labor to meet their needs. Associated Builders and Contractors, an industry trade association, estimates that the field will face a total shortage of 650,000 workers in 2022. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 334,000 openings for construction jobs as of June.

And in the search for construction labor,…

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