WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 11, 2026 – Today, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey issued the following statement:

“North America’s Building Trades Unions gained 47,198 net new members across 14 crafts last year, despite widespread industry disruption. This follows nearly 100,000 net new members added in 2023 and 2024. This growth is the direct result of a century-long commitment to workforce development, sustained through collectively bargained investments and reinforced by federal infrastructure and energy policies enacted in recent years. As a result, we had a record number of over 88,000 new apprentices in 2025 and over 300,000 men and women enrolled in our registered apprenticeship programs over the last two years.

“At a time of rising concern about skilled labor availability, the reality is clear: North America’s Building Trades Unions have the infrastructure and capacity to more than triple apprenticeship enrollment at no cost to taxpayers, ensuring America’s workforce needs are met. For owners and investors questioning labor availability, the solution is straightforward: work with us. If investors want capital protected, projects built to the highest standards, schedules met, and investments contributing to the American middle class, the Building Trades and our contractor community are the only workforce who do this with proven capacity, delivering large-scale, complex projects safely, on time, and on budget.

“Our sustained growth is also a product of sound public policy. The prior administration and Congress prioritized real investments in infrastructure and energy while partnering with the building trades to utilize our best-in-class registered apprenticeship system to drive growth not only in our membership but in communities across the country. While the current administration has announced future foreign investments in the United States, none have yet produced a single work hour for our members. Instead, cancellations, delays, withdrawn permits, withheld funds, and policy uncertainty have jeopardized these anticipated domestic investments.

“Uncertainty and instability for the construction industry are incompatible with building the high-road construction workforce America urgently needs at this time. We urge all policymakers to remain focused on what works: real investments for real projects that are tied to our training infrastructure to strengthen America now and into the future.”

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