Rutherford County, TN - Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr does not need to be told that we're witnessing a construction explosion locally and some type of "impact fee" on new construction should be levied so that the required infrastructure improvements are paid for by the newcomers who are creating this need.

Mayor Carr will be on WGNS this coming Wednesday morning (7/31/2024) from 8:10-9:00AM, and you can phone 615-893-1450 and talk with the mayor on-the-radio. The day before, Tuesday (7/30/2024), Murfreesboro's new City Manager Darren Gore will share ideas.

This comes as a group known as Construction Coverage says growth is causing us to rebuild our infrastructure. In fact, their data shows that between 2013 and 2018, Tennessee's construction employment grew by 27.7%—the largest increase in the country.

In recent years, financial commitment from the federal government to rebuild and expand critical American infrastructure has been a boon for the construction industry: federal funding announcements for infrastructure projects have totalled $552.8 billion as of June 2024. From building and expanding critical railroad corridors to securing clean water and broadband internet in rural communities, the American construction industry has its work cut out for it.

Despite these sizable financial commitments, the construction industry faces a major labor shortage. One construction industry trade association estimates the sector needs to hire over 500,000 workers to satisfy current demand in 2024.

Here is a link to the complete results of the analysis, with data on over 170 U.S. metropolitan areas and all 50 states. And here is a snapshot of the data table included in the full report, looking at the 10 states with the greatest percentage change in construction employment from 2018 to 2023.

However, while short- and long-term labor shortages persist at the national level, some parts of the country have seen substantial growth in construction hiring. Again, Tennessee is #1 with the largest increase in hires, and Rutherford County is at the top of this state's list.