What Does the State of America’s Skilled Trades Report Say About the Workforce?
Date Posted: October 6, 2026
Posted In: Discussion, Workforce,
From ConstructConnect: America’s construction and skilled-trades workforce is entering a period of high demand, but The State of America’s Skilled Trades: A National Report argues that the challenge is more complex than simply recruiting more workers.
Released in September 2026 by the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades and supported by BlackRock, Carhartt, Ford Motor Company, and Google, with research led by Jobs for the Future (JFF) and the Burning Glass Institute, the report examines 124 occupations and calls for better awareness, clearer pathways, and more targeted workforce investment. [Read about the Alliance here]
What Are Skilled Trades?
The report defines skilled-trades as the workers who “build, install, operate, maintain, repair, fabricate, or extract the physical materials, products, equipment, systems, and infrastructure the U.S. economy relies on.”
Using these criteria, 124 occupations were included by researchers across construction, installation, maintenance and repair, production, and extraction.
How Large is America’s Skilled-Trades Workforce Need?
The State of America’s Skilled Trades report highlights the scale of the skilled-trades workforce challenge through three national indicators.
- More than 18 million people work in skilled-trades occupations and contribute an estimated $3.8 trillion to U.S. GDP in 2025.
- Employers are projected to fill about 1.7 million openings annually through 2035, including more than 600,000 net new positions.
- Replacement demand is a major factor. Twenty-four percent of skilled-trades workers are 55 or older, compared with 11% under 25.
Across measurable formal training pathways, roughly 55 people are being prepared for every 100 workers needed nationally.