The construction industry was in a labor crunch even before the hurricanes, said David Peaden, executive director of the Home Builders Association of West Florida. He said there's an estimated shortage of 250,000 construction workers across the nation.There's also a serious housing shortage. According to the Associated Press, "At one time as many as 16,000 families across Florida were in FEMA trailers and mobile homes, but the number now is down to 8,710."
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"It's very difficult to find quality help, sometimes any help at all," said Taff Berrian, who runs a small construction company in Pensacola. He said he has lost his electrical, plumbing and drywall subcontractors since the hurricanes because they can earn more by working for bigger companies or directly for homeowners.
As everyone who drives in the Panhandle knows, post-hurricane petroleum shortages continue to plague the area. Gasoline remains in astonishingly short supply, as a truncated version of another A.P. news report in the Tallahasee Democrat says. To get the full wire service account, check the Miami Herald (free registration required):
"It could be two more weeks before supplies are back to normal, said Greg Threadgill, chief executive officer of T-Gill Fuels, a Pensacola distributor."Another kind of shortage can be discerned in the oddly personal press release of Keith Nabe of Crestview, who bills himself as a "management consultant/public speaker." Under the title GAS SHORTAGES STILL BAD IN CRESTVIEW FLORIDAÖ [sic] Nabe makes this on-site observation:
"It remains an eiry [sic] site [sic] to see gas stations with plastic bags over gas nozzles at the pumps, convenience shopping slow in their stop and go retail outlets without the gas as the leader for all sales. It is not know [sic] what these gas shortages have costs [sic] the local economy or how much longer these gas shortages might last."Looks like we've got a shortage of copy editors in the management consultant field, too.
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