Comprehensive Analysis on the Adoption of the Multiskilling Strategy among Craft Professionals

Studies suggest that multiskilling strategies can play a significant role to reduce labor shortages in the construction industry. Multiskilling is a labor strategy that involves the training of employees to acquire different skills and tasks in addition to their primary role in the workplace. This paper analyzes the adoption of multiskilling strategy in the US construction industry between 2005 and 2019 by examining 638,469 exam completions from the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and its National Craft Assessment and Certification Program (NCACP). The paper measures the growth of multiskilling workers based upon race, gender, and dual-skill pairing patterns between 2005 and 2019. In addition, the effect of formal training on the multiskilling workers has been examined to investigate the impact on the strategy. Findings suggest that level of multiskilling among the observed population of craft professionals in the North American construction workforce did statistically grow from 2005 to 2019. Additionally, top dual-skill pairings vary between multiskilling craft professionals based on many demographics.