Guarantee minimum wage to arrest skills shortage in construction
View(s):Construction industry professionals are urging the government to guarantee a minimum wage for blue collar workers in a bid to beat the dearth of such talent in the industry.
“The Government has approved recruitment of 2500 workers from Nepal and Myanmar and they’re already here,” Surath Wickramasinghe, Chartered Architect and Chairman – Surath Wickramasinghe Associates told the Business Times.
Unfortunately no one owns the problem. Dr. Wickramasinghe said adding that the country is losing out to others in the region as there’s no proper policy to attract people into this sector.
The Government with the Chamber of Construction and Industry (CCI) should slap a minimum wage on construction sector staff publicise it in order to attract those such as three wheeler divers, security guards etc into construction, he said. Dr. Wickramasinghe is also President of the CCI.
“The anticipated expenditure on construction projects is Rs. 6500 billion during 2016 to 2020, and the estimated workforce is one million. The shortfall at present is 400,000 and training institutions are unable to attract youth to fill the gap.
Therefore, the Government should conduct a massive publicity campaign to attract young school leavers and other within the working age group to join the construction industry as it is much more remunerative than any other sector.”
Another industry professional agreed saying that unless the Government looks to address the problem urgently, some of its key housing and infrastructure programmes could soon face crippling delays and spiraling costs. The industry knows that attractive salary schemes will only go some way to tackling the chronic skills shortage.
The main reason for this shortfall is due to the prevailing unprecedented boom in the industry, noted Dr. Wickramasinghe and added that the industry has also transformed itself from the traditional forms of construction to innovative areas of specialties, using new technology.
“For example piling and diaphragm walling, fabricating, welding, earth retaining structures, post tensioning related to construction and finishing materials, ACs, aluminum and UPVC door and window fabrication, solar, communication and Security systems, etc all require separate specialized teams of labour. Consequently, the numbers have increased.”