The 2024 Regional Roundtable/Block Meeting between the National Construction Contractors Association (Zenken, chaired by Masanori Imai), prefectural construction trade associations, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism concluded its full schedule in the Hokuriku region on the 29th. The situation surrounding the construction industry is becoming increasingly serious, with increasingly severe natural disasters, overtime limits being imposed, and rising equipment prices. The industry strongly expressed a sense of crisis over the current situation, and called for measures for the regional construction industry to continue to play a leading role in the region.
At the Chugoku region block meeting, a proposal was made to improve the image of the construction industry through planning and broadcasting of TV programs, etc. (held on the 17th at New Otani Tottori in Tottori City)
"The number of students finding jobs in the local construction industry has been decreasing year by year, and in recent years, many companies have been unable to secure any human resources." At a block meeting in the Tohoku region, the Fukushima Construction Industry Association revealed that they are currently having difficulty securing personnel. Fukushima Kenkyo also pointed out, "If this situation continues, some companies will go out of business in the future, especially in mountainous areas. Maintaining and managing infrastructure will also become difficult," and stressed the need for measures to encourage young people to join the workforce.
The shortage of labor in the construction industry was a topic of discussion at all district meetings. According to a survey conducted by Zenken among member companies, the most common answer (89.5%) was ``securing and retaining personnel'' (89.5%) as an issue for the sustainability of the regional construction industry. ``The aging of the skilled workforce is a serious problem'' and ``If we do not hire new employees in the future, the continuity of business operations may be affected.'' The free-flowing comments in the questionnaire revealed the anguish of business owners.
At meetings in various locations, the association submitted various proposals to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and other organizations to overcome the current situation. To address the labor shortage in the Shikoku region, we requested the development and strengthening of support measures to facilitate the acceptance of foreign human resources. The Chinese region requested support to strengthen public relations activities to improve the image of the construction industry.
For an industry to be an attractive place to work, it is essential that wages are comparable to other industries. To ensure worker safety, many are calling for an increase in public works design labor rates. The Gunma Prefectural Construction Industry Association said, "To ensure that wages are fully distributed to subcontractors, it is necessary to fundamentally change the method of determining design labor rates." He called for setting rates according to the level of
A representative from the Kinki region also pointed out that ``securing and training young employees and imparting their skills, with limited human resources and costs, is a huge cost burden for small and medium-sized enterprises.'' Unit labor costs for public works design have increased for 12 consecutive years. We will seize this opportunity and make efforts to improve the attractiveness of the construction industry, including wages.
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