#skilled-trades-shortage

#skilled-trades-shortage

"This is absolutely a rare window for young workers because the demand is real, funded, and seemingly long-term," Fraser Patterson, CEO of Skillit, stated. "These are not speculative jobs. They are tied to multi-decade investment cycles, and they offer a path to strong earnings, skill development, and stability without requiring a traditional four-year degree."

"A cultural shift was needed on the job sites-not only in the minds of the workers, but also in the physical layout of a site. It may sound trivial, but placing two porta-potties at a build site instead of just one that everyone uses-measures like that are important for developing an inclusive culture."

Groundworks plans to create 5,000 skilled trades jobs over the next five years as demand for structural and moisture remediation grows across the aging U.S. housing stock.

Ciriello lost his job and couldn't find work for nearly a year, leading to significant financial hardship for his family, who lived in motels and later in a car.

The unemployment rate for college graduates ages 22-27 soared to 5.6% at the end of last year, up sharply over the past three years and outstripping the overall rate of 4.2%.

92 per cent of UK automotive employers report difficulty filling roles, making it the hardest-hit sector for recruitment in the country. The figure sits almost 20 percentage points above the national average, where 73 per cent of employers say they are unable to find suitable candidates.

Caleb Moss's workday starts early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, before the sun comes up. At 4:30 a.m., he reports to his post in tool and die at Virco Manufacturing. Under the guidance of a mentor, he turns steel into high-precision tools and molds used throughout the plant. At 9:00 a.m., Moss leaves the plant and heads to Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, Ark., for a full day of instruction, beginning with math class and moving on to hands-on training on machines similar to those Moss uses on the job.

The S&P Global Construction PMI fell to 44.5 in February, marking 14 consecutive months of declining activity-a concerning trend for an industry crucial to addressing Britain's housing deficit. The residential building market is particularly struggling, with the sub-index for housebuilding dropping to 37.0, indicating a rapid decline in new home construction.

Using this methodology, they have determined that "AI is far from reaching its theoretical capability: Actual coverage remains a fraction of what's feasible." Researchers at Anthropic have introduced a whole new way to analyze AI's impact on work, arguing that there's still a huge gap between what large language models (LLMs) are capable of, and real-world deployment.

Those changes were the tipping point,

The Associated Builders and Contractors trade group estimated in a report last month the industry will need to bring in 456,000 new workers in 2027, up 30.7% from the 349,000 needed this year. "Failing to do so will worsen labor shortages, especially in certain occupations and regions, placing further upward pressure on labor costs," ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu warned in a statement.

I can honestly say that if I was 18 now, there is no way I would go to university only to leave with huge debts and poor job prospects. Instead, I would become an electrician or similar trade.

Young people are "experiencing higher education differently, and that is shaping much of what parents are saying," said Lammers. "[Parents] are reacting to the questions their children are asking and trying to find the best way to help them navigate the next steps."

Is AI coming for your job? If you work in construction or plumbing, that's perhaps not a question you need to worry about. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said it was a great time to be a tradesperson because the AI boom is creating demand for manual labor to build data centers. "It's wonderful that the jobs are related to tradecraft and we're going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steelworkers," he said in a conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink in Davos, Switzerland.