For Employers
What Is the Law of Scarcity, and How Does It Relate to Construction Hiring?
Every hiring decision in a tight labor market is a scarcity decision. What that means for how clients should set expectations before a search starts.
The law of scarcity is simple: when a resource is limited, its value rises and the terms shift toward whoever controls it. In construction hiring right now, that resource is qualified field leadership, and the terms have shifted toward the candidate.
“Clients who set compensation and criteria based on a labor market from five years ago run searches that stall, not because the recruiting is weak but because the target does not exist at that price in this market.”
The firms and clients who hire well right now treat a strong superintendent candidate the way they would treat a scarce material on a bid — they move fast, they do not renegotiate after verbal agreement, and they do not assume the candidate has no other options.
Understanding scarcity does not mean overpaying. It means pricing a role against the actual supply of qualified people, not against what the role paid the last time it was filled.