WASHINGTON, June 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associated Builders and Contractors today released its 2024 Workforce Development Survey, which found its member contractors invested $1.6 billion to provide craft, leadership and health and safety education to more than 1.3 million course attendees nationwide in 2023, up from $1.5 billion in 2022 and on track with $1.6 billion in 2021.

Other key findings include:

• Safety education accounts for the greatest share of total workforce investment at 59%, which has remained stable since 2022.
• ABC contractors invested an average of 7.5% of payroll on workforce development in 2023, slightly down from 8% in 2022.
• Trade and specialty contractors continued to increase their share of the total workforce development investment, which grew to 50% in 2023 from 42% in 2022.
• 58% of respondents reported a labor shortage that is severe or very severe, citing an exodus of baby boomers as the top contributor.
• 81% of respondents who utilize virtual or augmented reality used it for safety education.