As millions of college graduates are left disillusioned and in debt, high-paying jobs for highly trained professionals in skilled careers spanning construction, industrial, manufacturing, creative, and service – industries that are the backbone of America – are booming and have never been in greater demand than they are today.
Consider the statistics from the National Association of Home Builders that reports an industry-wide shortage of 200,000-400,000 construction workers during any given month. Imagine the domino effect of what that labor shortage does to the affordability and accessibility of homes for young families and first-time home buyers.
February is CTE Month, a perfect opportunity to encourage the next generation to consider a skilled career, and the value of Career and Technical Education to best prepare them for a successful future. It is also a great time to celebrate the importance of apprenticeships, internships, and mentorships which allow for a much faster and less costly school-to-career track.
And yet, despite the demand, these career-building jobs continue to go unfilled as the skilled labor gap widens. This is due in large part to a fragmented education-industry-government ecosystem and a generation of young people that simply don’t know about the opportunity a skilled career can provide, and the path to get there.
At a time when housing prices are soaring and some of America’s core industries are starved for talent, the bipartisan bill from Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) re-introduced to Congress on January 22, 2025 couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Creating Opportunities for New Skills Training at Rural or Underserved Colleges and Trade Schools (CONSTRUCTS) Act calls for the Department of Labor to create a new grant program to fund education and skills training programs for residential housing construction at community colleges and technical schools, thereby helping to grow the housing industry, lower costs for homebuyers, and stimulate the construction and skilled trade workforce.
And while the bill helps address the housing affordability crisis nationwide, there are two other pieces to the puzzle contributing to the widening skilled labor gap that have gone unnoticed – lack of information not interest, and a shortage of mentors.
The Skilled Careers Coalition surveyed parents, guidance counselors and students in 2023 and found that a lack of knowledge, not interest, is at the heart of why more young people are not pursuing skilled careers. In fact, 43% of students surveyed by SCC said they would consider a skilled career if they had more information. With more than 65 million youth between the ages of 10-24 in the U.S., we need to ensure that parents and guidance counselors are armed with the knowledge and resources they need to help guide young adults, so they understand the opportunities of a skilled career and how to get there.
Skilled Careers Coalition also recognizes that once young people are engaged and inspired to pursue a skilled career, they need mentors to not only guide them through the school-to-career-journey, but also help preserve the passion, knowledge and experience of one generation and ensure it gets passed along to the next in what we are calling The Great Skills Transfer.
As we address our country’s housing crisis, we also need to address the gaps within skilled labor impacting constructions and dozens of other industries that rely on skilled talent.
It’s time for all stakeholders – educators, industry and government – along with parents and pros – to get aligned and get behind skilled careers. From educators and parents, to mentors, government and industry, we need skilled career advocates across the public and private sector working together to create a dynamic ecosystem that inspires and prepares the next generation of talent to meet the growing demand for makers, builders, fixers, and creators and strengthen America’s workforce.