Construction Apprenticeship Programs Surge as Immigration Policymaking Shifts

Decades ago, America produced blue-collar workers in massive numbers. The economy, after all, was far more oriented toward production than it is in today’s service sector-intensive context.

In 1970, blue-collar jobs represented 31% of total nonfarm employment. By 2016, when Donald Trump first secured the presidency, that figure had declined to less than 14%.

Over the past decade, there has been a push in America to become more production oriented. Both the Trump and Biden administrations has emphasized the creation of good blue-collar jobs, especially in manufacturing. Many policies have been promulgated to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S., including in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, and tariff protection.

There has also been emphasis on other goods producing industries, including energy and construction. Both recent presidents have emphasized infrastructure, with the Biden administration signing the largest infrastructure package in U.S. history in November 2021. Much emphasis has also been placed on addressing the nation’s housing shortage, accelerating the build out of AI infrastructure, and adaptively reusing various elements of the built environment, including under-utilized office buildings and shopping centers.

Accordingly, America continues to demand those that can deliver construction services. The construction industry has responded aggressively to expand the supply of construction skillsets. In 2024, before the recent crackdown on undocumented workers commenced, there were more than 451,000 apprentices working within the construction industry, a 22% increase over the previous five years.

Apprenticeship programs are especially tied to construction occupations. From 2019 through 2022, there were 2.8 million participants in registered apprenticeship programs across all industries. More than 1.1 million of these apprentices were enrolled in construction apprenticeships. The occupations associated with the most apprentices were electricians, plumbers and pipefitters, carpenters, laborers, and sheet metal workers. Enrollment in construction trade programs grew 19.% from spring 2021 to spring 2022, indicating accelerating interest.

Community colleges are also experiencing growth in construction-related training programs, reflecting both changing educational preferences and industry demand. Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center indicate that students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges increased 16% from 2022 to 2023. Construction industry training programs led this surge, with enrollment rising 19.3% from spring 2021 to spring 2022.

Despite these effort, shortfalls remain. According to a recent survey conducted by Associated General Contractors of America and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (AGC/NCCER), 92% of construction companies struggle to hire qualified workers, with nearly one in three contractors reporting intensifying challenges arising from immigration enforcement. Roughly 34% of construction workers are foreign born and in the range of 1 million construction workers are undocumented. At least in the near-term, the construction industry faces even greater difficulty staffing up. 

An obvious response to this emerging situation is to double down on apprenticeship and similarly situated training programs, which is precisely what is occurring. Unfortunately, even this form of aggressive response may not be enough given the magnitude of the issue. 

Immigration’s Impact on Construction Worker Supply

Cultural forces are at work. For decades, Americans had been told by their educators, families and others to embrace the emerging service sector economy. That often meant securing formal education, including credentials like a four-year college degree. For many Americans, that advice proved sound. Physicians, attorneys, financial advisors, architects and others are among the best compensated. But for those with a passion for working with their hands, for tangible outcomes, and a desire to embrace the latest gadgetry, that advice may not have been as productive. It is likely that many who would have become excellent machinists, carpenters, electricians, and pipefitters were induced into less interesting service professions.

That diversion helped produce the massive skills shortages observed in construction, manufacturing, and energy segments today. Many immigrants, however, may not have been accorded the same advice, or if they were, did not have the financial wherewithal to pursue higher education. While Americans have been able to finance their education by layering student debt onto their finances, such markets tend to operate less intensely in other nations. Accordingly, many immigrants have looked to fill blue-collar positions in affluent and hard charging America, helping to address what would have been even larger construction labor shortfalls.

The scale of immigrant participation in America’s construction workforce is difficult to overstate. In 2024, roughly 30% of construction workers in the U.S. were immigrants, making construction second only to agriculture in terms of its reliance on foreign-born labor. This dependence varies dramatically by region. For example, in California, approximately 41% of construction workers are foreign-born.

Enforcement has also varied by region. The AGC/NCCER survey revealed that contractors in Georgia had experienced the highest impact, with 75% of firms affected by enforcement activities compared to just 8% in Idaho. Other heavily impacted states included Virginia, Alabama, Nebraska, and South Carolina, with impact rates of at least 36% in each state. 

The human impact of enforcement extends beyond statistics. As Los Angeles GC Jason Pietruszka explained in an article published by CBS News, “They’re hiding. People aren’t willing to come to work.” Pietruszka reported having only three to four people on site instead of the normal eight to ten workers. The fear factor amplifies enforcement effects, with 10% of firms reporting that workers left or failed to appear because of immigration actions that were rumored or confirmed.

The economic consequences ripple through project timelines and costs. According to the survey, 78% of contractors reported at least one project delayed in the past 12 months, with 45% attributing delays to workforce shortages. But it is likely that a higher proportion of those delays have transpired more recently as some immigrant construction workers fade into the background. 

Looking Ahead

Labor shortages would be even sharper if construction spending was rising. But since early-2024, construction activity in many segments, including residential and commercial, has been stagnant or even in decline. There are obvious exceptions, such as the investments made in data centers and energy production/distribution. At some point, interest rates will decline to levels that will foment the next surge in construction spending. One suspects that that period will be associated with even larger construction worker shortfalls than is presently observed.