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Business Q&A -- Craig Honeyman Craig Honeyman is executive director of the Oregon-Columbia Chapter, Associated Contractors of America Q: What are the biggest challenges for contractors in the current economic conditions? Do they vary dramatically from Portland to Southern Oregon? The biggest challenges for contractors is dealing with the challenges faced by our customers � The ability to build things has become incredibly complex throughout Oregon. We have become a state that, because of good intentions to control sprawl, eliminate shoddy developments and promote smart growth, has created an overall climate that is anti-economic development. When you couple that with a statewide economic development strategy that needs re-energizing, what results is a fairly anti-business climate. Contractors in Portland, Southern Oregon and throughout Oregon are proponents of good planning and good construction. However, discouraging industries from expanding their current base or new industries from coming to Oregon by restrictive land use laws and layer upon layer of state and local regulation is not getting us good planning and good construction - it is strangling and stagnating our statewide economy. Q: You recently referred to a coming labor and knowledge gap in Northwest Builder magazine. What will it take to keep that gap from interrupting future growth? The labor and knowledge gap referred to will be the result of the coming exodus of thousands of skilled workers from industry as the so-called Baby Boom generation approaches retirement. The construction industry, and for that matter all industries, have only begun to feel the effect of this inevitable event that will have a decade-long impact on businesses. Economic growth simply becomes untenable if firms cannot access the skilled workers needed to accomplish the mission of their respective businesses. Obviously, businesses in all industries, including construction, will need to make significant investment in education and training over the next several years in order for this knowledge and skills gap to be narrowed. Of particular concern to us is the rapid decline in industrial-technical related programs in Oregon's schools over the past several years. We are increasing our interaction with educators in an effort to turn this situation around, but it is currently an uphill battle. Time will tell if we successfully rise to meet this challenge, but I am optimistic based on renewed investment in both recruiting and training new workers that we are beginning to see across our industry. Q: If one state law could be stricken from the books, benefiting contractors, what would it be? AGC has been a strong voice for contractors in the Oregon state Legislature for a very long time. Our approach is to ensure that the laws that do get passed are "contractor-friendly" and ensure that construction projects in the public and the private sector are not overburdened with unnecessary administrative regulations. While not all laws currently meet this test, we continually strive to work with our partners in the industry as well as public and private owners to make necessary changes in the law to ensure more efficient project delivery and fewer administrative regulations on contractors. Q: Are the state's contractors more likely to survive the current recession than the one of the early 1980s? Today's recession is very different than the recession of the early 1980s. It is neither as widespread nor is it as severe. It is true that unemployment is running at slightly higher than 6 percent statewide; however, in the 1980s our unemployment was double digit. Our construction base is also different now than in the 1980s. Because of the boom times in the 1990s, much of the excess capacity was taken up by contractors who came into Oregon from out of state. There also was a significant influx of out-of-state workers. Those folks are going back to where they came from - leaving what work is available to local businesses and workers. Because Oregon's economy is not entirely based upon agriculture and forest products, different sectors of the economy are responding in different ways. In this economic downturn, manufacturing reductions have led the recession; however, healthcare related facilities are still a strong construction market. This recession is forecast to start to subside in mid2002. It will take construction a bit longer to get ramped back up, but the recession in the 1980s lasted for a much longer time. This recession will actually be shorter - a steep decline, but a steep upturn on the end - according to the economic forecasters. To suggest a subject for this column, please contact business reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.