Tourism takes a back seat to construction on Mississippi Gulf Coast
"Hurricane Katrina has changed the Coast's economy from a tourism to construction, but the real rebuilding hasn't even begun," reports the Sun Herald
The absence of skilled workers may slow down re-construction. "We were able to use a lot of nonconstruction-skilled people do to cleanup," said Charles Collins, vice president of J.O. Collins Contractor Inc. "The construction is going to start real soon when it's time to start rebuilding. There was already a tremendous shortage of skilled workers on the Coast. It's certainly not improved because of this. I'm talking carpenters, painters, concrete finishers, just the whole gamut of skilled construction workers."
One key will be finding housing for the workers that need to be imported.