America’s housing shortage is also a workforce challenge.
Even as communities across the country look for ways to increase housing supply, the construction industry continues to face a persistent shortage of skilled workers. Without enough people to build new homes, efforts to expand supply will remain constrained.
“You cannot build homes without workers,” said Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn, Executive Director of Workforce and International Labor Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while moderating a panel at the U.S. Chamber’s recent Building for Growth Housing Summit.
Ferguson Melhorn was joined by Jana Barresi, Vice President of Government Affairs at Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; Ed Brady, President and CEO of the Home Builders Institute; and Brendan McCluskey, President of Trident Builders, LLC and a member of the U.S. Chamber’s Small Business Council, for a conversation about the scale of the construction workforce shortage and how businesses, educators, and policymakers can help rebuild the talent pipeline.
A Workforce Shortage Decades in the Making
The construction workforce shortage is not a new challenge. Brady said the industry has faced a shortage of approximately 250,000 to 450,000 workers at different points over the past five years, a problem he described as decades in the making.
The shortage is also being compounded by growing demand for skilled workers in other areas of construction, including infrastructure and data centers. As those projects compete for workers, housing construction faces additional pressure.
For builders, the effects are felt across nearly every stage of construction.
McCluskey said the challenge extends beyond trades such as electricians and includes workers needed for drywall, fencing, flooring, and other essential parts of building a home. Once workers leave the construction industry, replacing that experience can be difficult.
“It is very, very difficult right now in the construction industry, particularly in housing,” McCluskey said.
Investing in the Skilled Trades Pipeline
Businesses are working to address the shortage by investing directly in training and workforce development.
Barresi said Lowe’s sees the challenge firsthand through the company’s relationships with small and medium-sized contractors across the country. The demographic trends add to the urgency: for every five tradespeople who retire, she said, only two people are currently entering the pipeline to replace them.
Through the Lowe’s Foundation, the company initially committed $50 million over five years with the goal of helping at least 50,000 people enter skilled trades careers. After reaching that goal a year early, she said the foundation expanded its commitment to $250 million over roughly 10 years, with a goal of helping at least 250,000 people enter the trades.
The foundation has also brought together approximately 75 employers, educators, nonprofits, and other partners to share best practices and strengthen the broader workforce development system.
“We all can’t do it on our own,” Barresi said. “We’ve got to build an ecosystem.”
Opening the Door to More Careers in Construction
Strengthening the construction workforce will also require reaching people who historically have not had clear pathways into the industry.
Brady highlighted Home Builders Institute programs that work with transitioning service members, justice-involved individuals, young people, and underserved communities. Expanding opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups could also help the industry reach new sources of talent.
But recruitment cannot begin only when someone is ready to enter the workforce.
“You’ve got to fill the funnel in order to produce skilled labor at the bottom of the funnel,” Brady said.
This includes introducing students to construction careers earlier and giving them opportunities to understand what those careers can offer.
Barresi pointed to dual-enrollment programs at community colleges as one way to accomplish that. These programs can give high school students exposure to the skilled trades while allowing them to earn job-ready credentials before graduation.
“We’ve got this amazing community college infrastructure across the country,” Barresi said. “How are we better leveraging that and the dual enrollment opportunities to get secondary school students visibility and access to skills?”
Changing the Narrative Around Skilled Trades
Building the talent pipeline also means changing how skilled trades careers are presented to young people.
For decades, college has often been positioned as the primary pathway after high school, while careers in the trades have been treated as an alternative. Panelists argued that framing overlooks the economic and entrepreneurial opportunities available in construction.
McCluskey described working with organizations that provide young people with life skills and soft-skills training while showing them a tangible pathway toward supporting themselves and their families through construction careers.
Increasing exposure through career fairs, schools, training programs, internships, and partnerships can help students understand that construction offers a viable career with opportunities for advancement and entrepreneurship.
Using Technology to Strengthen the Workforce
New technology could also help the construction industry address longstanding productivity challenges.
McCluskey discussed Trident Builders’ work exploring artificial intelligence as a way to improve visibility into field operations and productivity. He also sees an opportunity to use technology to help workers with strong problem-solving and leadership skills overcome gaps in construction experience.
That could be particularly valuable for veterans and returning citizens entering the industry.
“If you can figure out a way to pair the skills gap of not having 20 years of experience in the field with the right attitude,” McCluskey said, “we can then start also improving our productivity challenges and rebuilding our workforce.”
Policy Can Help Expand Training Opportunities
Private-sector investment alone will not close the construction workforce gap. Panelists also pointed to opportunities for federal, state, and local policymakers to expand access to training and remove barriers that keep people from entering the trades.
At the state and local level, solutions can include bringing greater exposure to skilled trades into schools, expanding in workforce development programs, and developing new ways to fund education and training.
Barresi highlighted one example from northern Alabama, where a skilled trades provider advocated for a small fee on construction permits. Revenue from the fee is directed back into training skilled trades professionals, creating a funding mechanism tied directly to construction activity.
For Brady, increasing resources and capacity for training organizations will be critical to creating enough opportunities for people interested in the industry.
“It does come down to money and capacity and resources,” Brady said, calling for collaboration among industry, federal agencies, and state governments to create more training opportunities and bring more workers into the pipeline.
Building Homes Means Building the Workforce
Solving America’s housing shortage will require action across permitting, zoning, financing, development, and other barriers to increasing supply. But those reforms can only go so far without enough people to turn plans and permits into homes.
Businesses, educators, training organizations, and policymakers all have a role to play in expanding career pathways, reaching new talent pools, increasing training capacity, and changing perceptions of careers in the skilled trades.
As demand for housing, infrastructure, energy, and other construction continues to put pressure on the workforce, strengthening that pipeline will be essential to ensuring America has the workers it needs to build for the future.
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