The Construction Industry Needs More People!
- Feb 3
- 2 min read
Of course that comes as no surprise to many (most?) people in the industry who have watched demand soar over the last several years. The Associated Builders and Contractors recently adjusted its outlook to show a demand in 2026 of 349,000 new workers needed, while Deloitte's 2026 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook places the number at 499,000, and LinkedIn's own Jobs on the Rise 2026 report (see at https://lnkd.in/gxUU5cyn ) places construction leaders on its list of predictions of the fastest growing jobs in the U.S. this year.
Does it matter if the number is 349,000 versus 499,000?
Probably not. Either way, it's a big number and its highly dependent on some hard to predict variables. But when you take all the reports and predictions together, the trend is clear. We need more people in the industry. There is also one fact that should not be overlooked when evaluating industry demand:
Much of the demand is being created by the increasing numbers of construction personnel that are retiring in the next five years, with the Deloitte report stating that 41% of the workforce is expected to retire by 2031 while only 10% of the current workers are under the age of 25.
There are three reasons this is important to understand:
This is a critical imbalance in an industry that has been traditionally overlooked by many potential job seekers.
The retiring demographic holds the bulk of the knowledge of "how to build" - it's not just the trade skills we can teach; it's the foundational knowledge that we need to transfer before it leaves.
The problem cannot be addressed overnight - it will take time to attract and properly train the future construction workforce.
This is go-time for the construction industry! Everyone in the industry needs to be working on improving our image, creating opportunities for knowledge transfer, and doing their part to support training and mentorship.
The good news is that we are seeing some of the big players step up to do their part. Some are taking incredible steps, such as McCarthy Building Company's purchase of a vacant hotel in Tempe, AZ to turn it into a construction training campus. With offices in 18 cities across the U.S., this represents a huge investment in the future of the industry's workforce.
