COVID-19 and Construction Industry: Workforce Challenges

The coronavirus took toll on human lives and catalyzed a crippling economic recession that led to soaring unemployment rates. The construction industry, due in part to its labor-intensive nature, has a high incidence of COVID-19 cases that severely affected various aspects of project management, such as cost, schedule, contracts, finance, and occupational health and safety. To bridge a research gap, this study embarked on two primary objectives. First, it identified the key challenges that lead to construction cost and schedule overruns, contractual implications, and occupational health and safety issues by reviewing more than 131 articles. Second, it proposed strategies to mitigate or at least minimize the effects of the challenges during the pandemic. The study identified 26 unique challenges and provided respective mitigation strategies for each. Labor shortages, escalating material prices, and occupational health and safety issues were revealed as major factors contributing to cost overruns, and delays in material delivery, reductions in efficiency and productivity rates, and deferrals of ongoing projects for new ones also emerged as key issues. Contractual implications included a lack of guidance on the applicability of force majeure contract clauses, and health and safety concerns were primarily driven by the fear of job loss and reduced income in a volatile job market. This research provides invaluable insights for stakeholders and project managers in the construction sector, enabling them to understand and effectively manage the challenges induced by the pandemic.