America’s Ability to Build Depends on Long-Term Workforce Investment, and the NABTU Training System Is Ready Now

Washington, D.C. – May 28, 2026 – As executives and commentators warn of construction labor shortages tied to energy expansion, advanced manufacturing, reshoring, and data center growth, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) says the issue is not a lack of skilled workers, but a failure by some owners, developers, and national contractor groups to make long-term workforce planning a core part of project development.

“The United States does not have a skilled craft worker shortage,” said NABTU President Sean McGarvey. “It has a workforce planning crisis. The unionized construction industry built the training infrastructure, contractor partnerships, and workforce pipeline required to meet this moment. That capacity exists right now.”

McGarvey said segments of the construction industry spent decades prioritizing short-term labor sourcing over long-term workforce investment, relying on low-wage, exploitable labor strategies instead of building durable training and recruitment systems capable of sustaining long-term demand. By contrast, the unionized construction industry continued investing through collective bargaining, signatory contractor partnerships, and sustained private-sector funding, creating a scalable workforce model built to support complex energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, and mission-critical projects. Those decisions matter now.

NABTU’s joint labor-management apprenticeship system is tuition-free, earn-as-you-learn, and designed to supply highly skilled labor at scale. Across the United States, NABTU and signatory contractor partners operate more than 1,600 training centers, invest over $2.5 billion annually in Registered Apprenticeship and skilled craft training, and maintain a pipeline of more than 300,000 registered apprentices and trainees supported by more than 21,000 instructors.

“Workforce gaps in construction are not inevitable,” McGarvey said. “They are the result of choices. The skilled workforce needed to build the projects driving the U.S. economy is not hypothetical. It is trained, available, and capable of expanding with demand. What is missing is the early commitment to incorporate workforce strategy into project planning.”

McGarvey added, “Owners and contractors already plan early for specialized equipment, supply chains, permitting, and manufacturing lead times. Workforce strategy must be treated the same way: as a core project input addressed at the front end, not as an afterthought once labor demand is already peaking.”

Recent reporting on surging demand tied to data infrastructure, reshoring, and skilled trades retirements only reinforces NABTU’s argument: the path forward is not panic. It is partnership. Owners, developers, and contractors should be engaging proven apprenticeship systems, community-based workforce on-ramps, and long-range labor strategies now if they expect projects to be delivered safely, on time, and at scale.

Independent research has found that projects using union labor are 40 percent less likely to experience skilled labor shortages, while also delivering higher productivity and lower overall project costs. For NABTU, that is the clearest proof point in this debate: when owners choose high-road labor partnerships and plan early for the skilled workforce major projects require, labor shortages become far less likely to derail project delivery.

###

Media Contact: Betsy Barrett, (202) 997-3266 | bbarrett@nabtu.org

About NABTU: North America’s Building Trades Unions is an alliance of 14 national and international unions in the building and construction industry, collectively representing more than 3 million skilled craft professionals in the United States and Canada. Each year, our unions and signatory contractor partners invest over $2.5 billion in private-sector funding to support more than 1,900 apprenticeship training and education facilities across North America. These programs produce some of the safest, most highly trained, and most productive skilled craft workers in the world. NABTU is dedicated to creating economic security and employment opportunities for construction workers by safeguarding wage and benefits standards, promoting responsible private capital investment, strengthening apprenticeship and training, and expanding construction career pathways to the middle class for women, communities of color, Indigenous people, veterans, and justice-involved individuals. For more information, please visit nabtu.org.