SHERIDAN — With summer’s arrival in Wyoming, construction season is officially underway, bringing a surge in activity on roads, homes, and infrastructure projects across the state. But along with the welcome boost in building comes a familiar set of challenges: finding enough workers — and enough places for them to live.

Contractors across sectors, from the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) to local homebuilders, rely heavily on seasonal help during these months of better weather. “We do see increased building in the summer. With the nicer weather, you can do that a lot easier,” said Beth Holsinger of the Big Horn Home Builders Association (BHHBA), noting that while many BHHBA members keep a steady workforce year-round, they typically ramp up outdoor construction when conditions improve.

WYDOT, for its part, hires roughly 86 seasonal and temporary workers each year, according to public affairs officer Doug McGee. These seasonal employees usually have a home base, McGee said, but due to the mobile nature of roadwork, they often need to travel within the region — and WYDOT does not provide housing or assistance.

Housing access is a growing concern statewide. Kelli Little, director of government affairs for the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Wyoming, explained that housing costs in some areas make it “very difficult” for construction companies to secure accommodations for employees or to attract workers to relocate. “With a low population and rate of unemployment, recruiting is always a challenge, especially in the skilled trades,” Little said.

And the workforce shortage is not just anecdotal — it’s backed by hard numbers. A 2024 Wyoming Workforce Report from Industrial Systems Consulting in Rock Springs revealed that the state has only 50 workers for every 100 job openings, signaling an “urgent” need for skilled labor. Wyoming ranks among the states with the largest workforce gaps, especially in key sectors like construction, energy, and mining.

To help bridge the gap, AGC of Wyoming has launched initiatives to raise awareness and engage young people. “We have donated tools, hosted fundraising campaigns for skilled trades student organizations, skilled trades demonstrations and job fairs, and hosted construction site visitations for students,” Little said. She emphasized that employers are getting creative to recruit, offering signing bonuses for home down payments, competitive healthcare and retirement benefits, referral bonuses, and child care incentives.

Yet, despite these efforts, construction work comes with built-in challenges. “The industry prides itself on offering high-skilled, high-wage rewarding careers; however, individual workers face challenges, including long hours and lack of flexibility with such a short working season, unpredictable and harsh weather conditions working outside, and increased traffic near job sites with the tourism season in full swing, creating added dangerous conditions,” Little said.

A larger structural problem looms behind it all: the “missing middle” — workers earning moderate incomes who struggle to afford housing in Wyoming. “Around the state, the median home price keeps going up,” said Dan Dorsch, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County and board member of the Southeast Wyoming Builders Association. “There is such a lack of supply of both affordable housing and workforce housing that it is causing a strain, and it’s not allowing Wyoming to move forward economically. A lot of the labor trades are probably falling into that category of struggling to afford that median home (price).”

Dorsch regularly advocates for a state-level investment in affordable housing, urging policymakers to step in. “There are things the state needs to do, and one of those is invest in housing, invest in affordable housing,” Dorsch said. While he acknowledged that municipalities and counties can play a role, he emphasized that state incentives would make a significant difference.

Although housing was not picked up as a formal topic in this year’s legislative interim session, Dorsch vowed that advocates like him will keep pushing the issue. “It’s unfortunate that housing isn’t being picked up as an interim topic, but we who are involved with housing are still going to make it a topic. We’re still going to be talking about it,” he said.

With a busy summer ahead and ongoing workforce shortages, Wyoming’s construction industry faces an urgent need for solutions — both to build the state’s infrastructure and to secure the workers and homes needed to keep it all moving forward.

Originally reported by Wyoming News.