BlackRock, Carhartt, Ford Motor Company and Google have announced a new initiative to expand access to skilled workforce training in response to growing labor shortages.
The companies’ Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades intends to work with labor unions and trade associations, invest in apprenticeship programs and raise awareness to promote pathways into the trades, according to the joint release issued on Tuesday.
“Investment in America’s infrastructure will help shape the country’s long-term economic trajectory, but its success ultimately depends on the skilled workforce that brings these projects to life,” Bayo Ogunlesi, BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive officer of global infrastructure partners, said in a statement. “Expanding that talent pipeline requires long-term commitment and partnership across sectors.”
Mounting evidence points to opportunities in the skilled trades.
A shortage of skilled tradespeople, largely due to experienced workers aging out of the workforce, has led to more job openings and higher pay for electricians, HVAC technicians, plumbers and builders.
At the same time, fear that companies will need fewer white-collar workers as AI capabilities improve is creating a “negative feedback loop with no natural brake,” according to a February report by Citrini Research, an investment research firm.
Those job market shifts are contributing to more students choosing short-term, career-driven pathways, other research shows.
Matthew Atha, a 54 year old apprentice, does steel work at Ironworkers local 29 during an apprenticeship in Dayton, Ohio, on October 24, 2022.
Megan Jelinger | AFP | Getty Images
Enrollments in undergraduate certificate and associate degree programs both grew by about 2% in fall 2025, while enrollment in bachelor’s degree programs rose by less than 1%, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Americans’ confidence in a bachelor’s degree is falling, while two-year associate’s degrees are gaining steam, a recent Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll also found.
“A four-year degree is still the gold standard,” said Courtney Brown, chief data and research officer for the Lumina Foundation, which is focused on advancing higher education opportunities. However, “community colleges are doing really well with affordability and value,” she said — “more people gravitate towards that.”
‘A critical inflection point’
“We’re at a critical inflection point where demand for skilled trades is accelerating while the available workforce continues to shrink,” Paul Morgan, the global chief operating officer of real estate management services at JLL, said in a research note published in April. JLL is a global commercial real estate and investment management company.
Morgan said the skilled trades shortage “threatens how we power our data centers, cool our laboratories, secure our manufacturing facilities and maintain the spaces where millions of Americans work every day.”
Despite growing public opposition, new data center construction is key to supporting the artificial intelligence boom, fueling a massive infrastructure buildout.
“Building the physical infrastructure for America’s future requires significantly increasing the pipeline of skilled tradespeople across the country — a challenge that can only be addressed with collective action,” Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, said in a statement. Google is also one of the largest builders and operators of data centers.
