Summit looks at building boom here
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
O'ahu will need another 25,993 construction workers over the next five years for upcoming military housing construction and officials need to better prepare for the expected building boom, speakers told 160 people gathered yesterday for the first Hawaii Jobs Summit.
Increased construction work, primarily from $2.2 billion worth of military projects, could further squeeze O'ahu's tight housing market, said Ted Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Plenty of work also needs to be done to raise the education levels of children who may one day need to meet minimum skill levels, said Pat Hamamoto, superintendent of the state Department of Education.
At the same time Hawai'i's community colleges, which train most of the Islands' trade union workers, don't receive enough money to meet the need, said Michael Rota, associate vice president for academic affairs at the University of Hawai'i.
"Unfortunately," Rota said, "right now we're not investing."
Employers should remember that Hawai'i workers cherish their families and the time they spend together, said Sylvia Yuen, director of the UH Center on the Family.
At the core of yesterday's summit at Fort Shafter was the fear that Hawai'i may not take full advantage of construction job openings in an industry that's expected to grow 70 percent over the next 10 years — faster than any other sector.
"Seventy percent growth is a lot," said Burt Barnow, associate director of research for the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University, "and if we're not careful, we may squander the opportunity."
The summit was organized by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, who co-authored the legislation that allows private companies to build and renovate U.S. military housing around the world and then manage the homes for the next 50 years.
Yesterday's summit brought together representatives from the building industry, trade unions, the Department of Education, UH, economists, business leaders and the primary contractors building the military housing.
The summit's steering committee plans to meet in about two weeks to outline follow-up steps. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, also plans to hold congressional committee hearings in Hawai'i on Feb. 18 dealing with job and training programs.
Hawai'i's construction industry reached $3 billion in 2003 for the first time in a decade, but leaders need to focus on creating a better-trained workforce for the upcoming work, said Bruce Coppa, executive director of the Pacific Resource Partnership.
During the 1980s, Hawai'i's red-hot construction industry was running at $4 billion a year and "we were hiring people just because they could spell the word 'carpenter,' " Coppa said. Inexperienced and poorly trained workers in the 1980s, Coppa said, led to poor craftsmanship and increased workers' compensation costs.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
