Skilled Trades Deserve a Place at the Table in America's Career Success Conversation

For decades, America has told young people that success follows a single path: high school, college, a degree, and a career. College is a great choice for many, but the problem is that we've treated it as the only path worth celebrating—and the nation is paying the price. As someone who started in the trades as a carpenter and equipment operator, worked his way up to executive and partner in an 80-year-old construction company, I know firsthand that there are countless men and women who began with a tool belt and became superintendents, project managers, and business owners. They earn excellent incomes and support families without a four-year degree. Yet we still don't talk about these careers with the same respect as college—and we should.

Construction is facing a workforce crisis that has been decades in the making. Contractors are competing for skilled workers while an experienced generation retires. Meanwhile, the country needs more housing, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure. We cannot build the next generation of American infrastructure without first building the next generation of the American workforce. That starts with changing the conversation.

When a high school student says they want to become an electrician or welder, that should be celebrated as enthusiastically as a college announcement. Parents need to understand that choosing a skilled trade is not choosing a lesser future. Educators and counselors must present these pathways as equal options. Employers need to invest in training, apprenticeship, and mentorship, showing employees a career ladder instead of just a job.

One of the greatest aspects of construction is that your work becomes part of the community. A craft professional can drive past a school and say, 'I built that.' They can walk into a hospital knowing they helped create a place where lives are saved. There is dignity and pride in that work, and tremendous opportunity. The skilled trades also offer a powerful entrepreneurial pipeline—starting with learning a craft, moving into supervision, and eventually starting a company, which is economic mobility in its purest form.

But solving the shortage requires more than convincing young people that construction is a good career. We must create a system that supports them once they enter it. That means stronger career and technical education, expanding apprenticeships like those offered by Associated Builders and Contractors, better school-employer partnerships, and teaching financial literacy alongside technical skills. Most importantly, employers must invest in people. If we want loyalty, we have to create opportunity.

This is not an argument against college; it's an argument for options. A student who wants to be an engineer should have a clear path to engineering school. A student who wants to be an electrician should have an equally clear path into apprenticeship. Neither should be deemed more successful because of the path chosen at 18.

Having seen construction from the ground up, I'm convinced that some of America's greatest untapped talent is in classrooms right now, waiting for someone to show them a different possibility. They may not know that the person operating equipment today can supervise a multimillion-dollar project tomorrow, or that an apprentice can become a business owner, achieving financial security and the satisfaction of building something that lasts.

It is our responsibility to tell them. America does not just need more workers; it needs builders, makers, problem-solvers, and entrepreneurs. For too long, we have defined success too narrowly. It's time to widen that definition and celebrate every pathway that allows someone to build a meaningful career, support a family, and contribute to their community. America's future will not only be crafted in boardrooms and classrooms—someone still has to build it.