Material Madness: Part Four

Follow us for our five-part investigative series discussing contributing factors to the roofing industry’s current supply chain challenges. We have researched the issues and will spend several weeks highlighting the circumstances affecting material shortages and price escalations.

Part Four

Labor Shortages

April 2021 was the beginning of the “great resignation” when 3.8 million Americans quit their jobs in one month. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, another four million Americans quit working in July 2021. The U.S. had a record of 10.9 million open jobs at the end of July. According to the Department of Labor and Statistics, “The number of job openings increased to 11.0 million on the last business day of October”. And these statistics only represent the labor shortages in the United States.

The shortage of employees is a global problem that has impacted all aspects of the supply chain from mining raw materials to the last mile of delivery of goods. “The labor shortage we are all dealing with, has made it increasingly harder to find labor and this has especially affected manufacturing facilities and the ability to secure and obtain raw materials”, Bill Bellico, Sika.

According to a recent study released by Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction industry alone needs 650,000 new workers to meet demands in 2022. Compared to other industries within construction, roofing is disproportionally impacted by supply chain strains as a roofing system is more than just the top layer of waterproofing material. A roof system may include a vapor barrier, insulation, adhesives, fasteners, fastening plates, gypsum board, etc., thus exposing the industry to every weakness in the supply chain from tariffs on steel, to lack of MDI to make insulation, to the storms that have impacted both the petrochemical and oil and gas industry, and each component is in turn, dependent on transportation issues which is also impacted by labor shortages.

So when will the great resignation end? While it is difficult to predict the future, many experts agree that 2022 will be the beginning of stabilization for employers. In a recent interview between Employee Benefit News’ Deanna Cuadra and Omer Glass, the co-founder and CEO of GrowthSpace, Glass stated:

A lot of companies are making great efforts in order to cope with the great resignation. This, connected with the fact that humans tend to be risk-averse, means more stability is going to enter the market and people will settle down.

References:

Job openings up to 11 million in October 2021

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/job-openings-up-to-11-million-in-october-2021.htm

What the Heck is Happening with Roofing!?

https://usa.sika.com/sarnafil/en/resource-center/news/supply-chain-update.html

ABC: Construction Industry Faces Workforce Shortage of 650,000 in 2022

https://www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/entryid/19255/abc-construction-industry-faces-workforce-shortage-of-650-000-in-2022

Why the great resignation will end in 2022

https://www.benefitnews.com/news/will-the-great-resignation-end-in-2022