Gulf Coast Mega-Projects to Increase Demand for Skilled Craft Labor

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the coming years, construction of major projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast is expected to cause a sharp increase in the demand for skilled craft labor in the region. In a specially commissioned report, Industrial Info examined the supply, demand and cost of labor in the Gulf Coast region from 2010 through 2017 and found that area labor demand is expected to increase dramatically as construction of different mega-projects in the area occurs simultaneously.

Along the Gulf Coast between Brownsville, Texas, and Pascagoula, Mississippi, Industrial Info is tracking more than 500 projects with a combined total investment value of $152 billion that are planned to begin construction between 2013 through 2017. Inevitably, some of these planned projects will be canceled or delayed, but Industrial Info expects that between $65 billion and $100 billion of these projects will reach the construction stage. Even at the lower end of the Project Realization Rate, labor demand during this period is expected to be at least double the current demand at any given time.

Projects that support the development and expansion of 10 area LNG facilities account for approximately $55 billion of the $152 billion figure. Demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) continues increasing throughout the world. U.S. natural gas producers, with an abundance of low-cost natural gas as extraction from shale plays continues, stand to gain tremendously by exporting LNG to Asian and European markets, where prices might be five times the current low U.S. natural gas price. These economics make the construction of LNG liquefaction and export facilities a very lucrative undertaking for U.S. natural gas companies.

As these planned LNG facilities are concentrated in the Gulf Coast region, if they are under construction simultaneously, there will be a sharp increase in competition for skilled craft labor in the region. Two of the areas expected to have some of the highest labor supply/demand imbalances are around Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Industrial Info forecasts that regional labor demand in 13 skilled crafts, including welders, pipefitters, ironworkers and others, will increase 37% from 2012 to 2016, rising from 88.7 million hours to more than 121 million hours in the Gulf Coast region.

Drawing on Industrial Info's Project & Plant Database, our Gulf Coast Region Labor Market Analysis provides detailed information for nine metropolitan areas between Brownsville and Pascagoula and includes:

• Historic and forecast labor hour needs for each metropolitan area through 2017 for 13 skilled crafts
• Industrial capital and maintenance spending estimates through 2017
• Current wage rates and expectations for the future
• An executive summary detailing the causes and expectations for changes in labor supply and demand, and more

For more details about this detailed report, contact Tony Salemme, vice president of Industrial Info's Craft Labor Group at tsalemme@industrialinfo.com or by calling (209) 547-9878.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.