In the business of pouring concrete, there’s not a lot of room for staffing issues. Once the pour is scheduled, the forms are ready and the trucks are coming, regardless, the crew has to be there.
When a job is short on a finisher, laborer, or operator, the contractor is left with few options. It often means that people are pulled from another job and overtime almost assuredly climbs. A job schedule might get pushed too, leaving the customer with delays in their project. That’s why the labor shortage dogging concrete contractors is so much more than a recruiting problem. It affects every aspect of the business, reaching production and job sequencing, as well as the amount of work a company is able to take on.
Concrete Contractor’s own State of the Industry reporting has repeatedly pointed to labor as one of the trade’s biggest concerns. Shortages among finishers and equipment operators have been particularly difficult to navigate. At the same time, the masonry industry has been facing the reality of an aging workforce while too few people are taking their places.
There is no single answer in solving this problem. It’s complex. But a recent bill now before Congress could make an important legal workforce option less stressful for contractors to implement as part of a long-term plan. That bill, the PERM Backlog Reduction Act of 2026, is built to create an optional premium processing level for permanent labor certification, meaning an employer could pay $1,200 to have a PERM application processed within a month. Right now it takes closer to a year.
Why PERM Matters to Contractors
When an employer wishes to sponsor a foreign worker for a permanent position on their team, PERM is often one of the earliest steps in that process.
The DOL recently reported that PERM applications in August of 2026 took an average of 336 calendar days to complete.
Before a case can move ahead, concrete contractors wanting to utilize immigrant workers are required to test their local labor market to prove qualified U.S. workers are not available. The Department of Labor (DOL) also examines wages and working conditions to assure a foreign hire won’t undercut domestic workers. These are important protections, but most of the frustration comes after the case enters the government queue. The DOL recently reported that PERM applications in August of 2026 took an average of 336 calendar days to complete. That means that for eleven months, a contractor can’t actually put the worker on the schedule. Think about what that does to the business.
In the world of concrete construction, schedules aren’t going to align to that kind of timetable.
Thirty Days Changes the Planning Equation
The bill wouldn’t require employers to use premium processing. Contractors can choose premium processing if they’re looking for faster turnaround, pay the fee, and have the process expedited. The important part is the 30-day requirement.
Contractors should not view this as some kind of shortcut, but rather as a valuable tool in the grand scheme of workforce planning.
Concrete businesses are accustomed to planning months in advance for jobs. If one intends to participate in employment-based immigration for a portion of its future workforce, a process with a defined 30-day window is much easier to plan around than one that can sit with the DOL for almost a year.
The $1,200 fee is important in this legislation. It’s intended to add capacity inside DOL, earmarking money to beef up support staff and training, as well as processing systems and fraud detection. It also stipulates that premium cases cannot interfere and slow the regular queue even further.
A useful reform improves the machinery behind the process, which the PERM Backlog Reduction Act does.
This Would Not Put a Worker on a Jobsite in 30 Days
As with most things, this can only impact the overall labor difficulties so much.
Where do persistent vacancies exist even after genuine recruiting efforts have been made?
PERM processing at the premium level would not transform, for example, the EB-3 visa process into a 30-day hiring program. It’s just one step. After labor certification is given, there’s additional immigration processing, and then workers can still be faced with long waits tied to visa availability. The bill does not make more employment-based visas available.
A concrete contractor should not look at this legislation and think it solves next month’s manpower problem. It does not.
Visas like the EB-3 are intended for permanent, full-time positions. Depending on the job requirements, that can include skilled workers whose positions require at least two years of training or experience, as well as other workers in positions that require less than two years. This is an important distinction for concrete and masonry contractors. A highly experienced mason and an entry-level laborer are not the same job, and an employer can’t just label a vacancy to make it fit into a visa category. The position, its actual requirements, and the required domestic recruitment all matter.
The right question to ask is where do persistent vacancies exist even after genuine recruiting efforts have been made.
Do Not Abandon the Local Pipeline
It’s important that contractors never stop investing in domestic workers because an immigration option is on the table.
At the end of the day, the PERM Backlog Reduction Act isn’t going to magically solve the labor shortage affecting concrete contractors.
The industry needs far more young people to be exposed to the possibility of concrete and masonry work as career options. Likewise, apprenticeship programs are critical, as are retention efforts that give the people already on payroll a reason to stay. At the same time, contractors know when a vacancy on their team is chronic. It’s hard not to feel it when the same job keeps reopening and when supervisors are spending too much of their time and effort reshuffling crews because there are simply not enough people.
That’s the kind of scenario where another labor pipeline can help to ease some of the pain.
In the toolbox, lawful immigration should sit next to local recruiting and workforce development rather than competing with them. If a contractor has a permanent need and can’t find qualified help domestically, then EB-3 is yet another tool in the broader effort.
At the end of the day, the PERM Backlog Reduction Act isn’t going to magically solve the labor shortage affecting concrete contractors, but it could remove a substantial obstacle for one piece of the larger workforce strategy.
For those trying to build crews that will still be there several projects from now, that matters.
