The construction industry continues to grapple with significant labor shortages. With baby boomers retiring and a lack of younger workers opting to work in the industry, the demand for skilled construction workers is outpacing supply.

According to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), the construction industry had 459,000 job openings on the last day of November 2023, up by 111,000 from the same month in 2022. ABC noted that the November job opening rate of 5.4% is higher than at any point in the last 21 years.

With open positions and not enough applicants to fill them, construction firms are struggling to hire the labor they need to complete projects. A survey by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) found that 77% of construction company respondents are having a hard time filling some or all salaried or hourly craft positions. Looking ahead, most respondents expect that hiring will continue to be hard or will become harder.

Amidst this labor scarcity, construction firms are looking for strategies to mitigate this challenge that contributes to project delays, logistical problems, quality issues and cost overruns. To overcome labor shortages and mitigate rising labor costs, the industry is turning to innovative building materials like insulated metal panels as a key strategy for improving workflows, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs, allowing firms to get more done with less labor.

Here’s how they do that:

Ease of installation – A one-component, easy to install system, insulated metal panels can help to speed up the construction process. They provide a high-performance, low-energy, weathertight building envelope in a fraction of the time of some traditional site-built wall and roof enclosure systems.

Fewer workers required – Lightweight insulated metal panels require one installer instead of multiple trades to attach to the structural framing. This minimizes scheduling issues and allows for faster dry-in, fast-tracking construction projects by allowing other trades to proceed with interior work sooner.

Cost effective – A study by construction and asset management consultancy Currie & Brown found that the installed costs of insulated metal panel wall systems can be 25% lower in the U.S. and 27% lower in Canada compared to precast insulated concrete walls or standard tilt-up concrete walls.

A building envelope solution of choice for their thermal performance, design flexibility and durability, insulated metal panels provide the much needed added benefit of helping ease the pressure of labor shortages.