For more than 100 years, we have honored the men and women who build America on Labor Day. From roads and bridges to airports, schools, homes and manufacturing plants, construction workers build the foundation for our country’s prosperity and strength.
As an industry, we build people, too, by expanding opportunities for hardworking Americans to choose a career path in construction.
Construction is not just a job, but a well-paying career. It doesn’t require a four-year degree, and yet it offers endless opportunities. Barriers to entry are minimal. Through apprenticeship, work-based learning and continuing education programs, construction professionals can earn while they learn and continually expand their skills, all without incurring student loan debt. On-the-job instruction and re-skilling programs allow workers to advance their careers through stackable and portable credentials recognized at jobsites all over the country.
Even so, Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents more than 21,000 construction and constructions-related firms, estimates that there are 500,000 open jobs in construction right now, and 80 percent of contractors are looking to hire.
That is why the industry is redoubling its efforts to recruit and educate the next generation of construction workers. ABC members invest $1.1 billion to educate 476,000 people annually, and our chapters offer 800 apprenticeship, craft and safety programs across the United States. In July, ABC joined leading companies and trade associations in signing President Trump’s “Pledge to America’s Workers,” committing to educating and developing at least 500,000 additional construction workers over the next five years. But America must do more to ensure our construction workforce is ready to meet the challenges of a booming economy and long-overdue infrastructure rebuilding.
Thankfully, Congress and the administration are leading initiatives to modernize career education programs and better align them with industry demand. Earlier this year, President Trump created the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion to spur the development of industry-recognized apprenticeship programs and recruit a diverse workforce with exactly the skills required for success on the job. The president also signed the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, a key federal program supporting vocational education that stresses the need for industry stakeholders and educators to work together to implement effective work-based learning curricula. ABC is also urging Congress to pass the PROSPER Act, which would open federal tuition assistance to industry-recognized education programs.
We must also raise awareness of career opportunities in construction among individuals who are underrepresented in our workforce. The construction industry is looking to expand job opportunities for women, minorities, veterans, students, non-graduates, and people seeking new careers, re-entry to the workforce or a second chance at achieving the America dream. ABC is creating a culture of diversity and inclusion through targeted initiatives such as Women Building Washington in the nation’s capital region, which aims to increase the number of women in the construction industry; the Construction Craft Laborer program at Fort Drum in New York, which prepares transitioning service members with the skills needed to enter the construction industry; and Project Jump Start n Baltimore, which readies low-income individuals and those transitioning out of the criminal justice system to join the trades, boasting an 80 percent job placement rate.
We’ve made progress, but there is still more to be done to meet the construction industry’s labor demands and fill the skills gap. We look forward to continuing working with our communities, industry stakeholders, members of Congress and the administration to implement an “all-of-the-above” approach to apprenticeship, on-the-job training and workforce development programs. We will also remain committed to recruiting, educating and developing current and future generations of construction workers — the men and women who build America.
Michael Bellaman is President and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors. He served on the president’s Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion. Learn more about careers in construction at workforce.abc.org.
