Though spikes in industrial turnaround projects are expected at the end of this year and beginning of next year, industrial construction is expected to slow during the second quarter of 2017, the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance says in its new 18-month labor forecast.
GBRIA says there is currently about $31 billion worth of capital expansions planned or underway in the Capital Region. The projects will create nearly 13,500 permanent jobs and about 30,000 temporary construction jobs over the next eight years “if the investment climate remains favorable,” GBRIA says in the forecast.
“Some people question the value of temporary construction and maintenance jobs, but when you look at them in aggregate, they make up a permanent workforce that has supported the Baton Rouge area for more than 100 years,” says GBRIA Executive Director Connie Fabré in a prepared statement. “Workers who choose these careers understand that today they may be working for Turner Industries at Honeywell, and then next month for Performance Contractors at ExxonMobil, that’s just the nature of the industry.”
The top three industrial jobs expected to be in demand over the next 18 months include welders, pipefitters and instrument and electrical technicians, according to the forecast. Millwrights, scaffold builders and boilermakers will also be in high demand.
GBRIA represents 62 petrochemical, energy, paper, pharmaceutical, storage terminal and other industrial facilities located in eight parishes around Baton Rouge.
