Construction industry growth outpacing workforce
BUFFALO — The construction industry has seen strong and consistent growth in both the number of jobs and in wages overall in the state, according to a report from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services.
However, that has yet to entice enough young people in Johnson County to enter the trade.
Finding reliable people to fill the available jobs in Johnson County has been a challenge for many of the area’s construction industry employers over the past few years.
One of those employers is Jerrica Mittleider, owner of Barnum Construction, who said that though wages have increased significantly and the work has remained steady, reliable employees are hard to find. Barnum is one of the subcontractors working on the Main Street preservation project this and last summer.
Reliable young people are rare, so Barnum tends to find people in their late 20s and up. Once people start having families and bills, they tend to be more reliable with the right attitude, performance and attendance, Mittleider said. When Barnum does hire young people, they can be hard to train and oftentimes stop showing up. That isn’t always the case, but it’s common.
“You want to keep growing, but our turnover rate is massive,” she said.
In Johnson County, the employment pool has continually shrunk, owner of Rocky Mountain Equipment Services, Dan Rogers, said, though he’s unsure why.
Young people tend to not want to get their hands dirty, and it’s a hard job, Rogers said.
“The people we do have have been with us a long time,” he said.
His company offers equipment for purchase or rent. His business also used to provide excavation services, but got out of it primarily due to workforce shortages, Rogers said.
Despite few young people entering the profession, owner of Ace Builders Inc., Chris Bernard, said that the industry offers good job security, because construction jobs still require real people to do the work.
Ace Builders is based in Sheridan, and it is building the ambulance barn in Johnson County. Ace has been fortunate, Bernard said, as most of its employees are older and have been with the company for a long time.
According to the 2025 Wyoming Workforce Annual Report, Wyoming has seen over three years of year-over-year job growth in the construction sector, based on numbers leading up to 2024. The construction industry was the largest contributor to that growth, adding 1,281 jobs over the year – a 5.7% increase and more jobs than any other industry.
Despite this growth, Wyoming and elsewhere have been experiencing continued challenges from a labor shortage.
According to a model created by Associated Builders and Contractors that it shared last January, the construction industry will need to attract an estimated 439,000 new workers nationwide in 2025 to meet anticipated demand. While the workforce has finally started to attract more young workers, demand is still likely to outpace the number of people entering the industry, according to ABC.
Despite challenges in getting people into the industry, construction jobs pay well and often have solid benefits. Barnard said that Ace, for example, has a 401(k) plan, paid vacations, bonuses and other benefits.
Rogers said that he likes to reward his employees because they have been with him for so long, which is why they get raises every year over and above inflation. He offers a lot of the same benefits as Barnard.
Data from ABC shows that throughout the country, while the construction labor pool has gotten younger, and therefore, the pace of retirements is expected to slow, a high number of people are still needed to meet demand.
This story was published on August 14, 2025.