Everyone in the construction industry talks about the labor shortage. Not enough roofers, not enough electricians, not enough HVAC techs. The numbers back it up. According to Associated Builders and Contractors, the industry needed an estimated 501,000 net new workers in 2024 alone, on top of normal hiring, just to keep pace with demand and retirements.
But framing this as a labor problem lets leadership off the hook. The real issue is not that people do not want to work in the trades. It is that the trades have not given people enough reasons to stay.
The real reasons people leave
I ran a commercial roofing company for almost a decade and hired hundreds of trade workers. The ones who left did not leave because the work was too hard. They left because their foreman treated them like equipment. Because there was no path to advancement. Because they got hurt and nobody checked on them.
When I talked to our crew about job satisfaction, the top complaint was not pay. It was feeling invisible. Workers who had been with us for years said nobody had ever asked them what they wanted to do next. That is a leadership failure.
Stop blaming the schools
I hear this constantly: “Schools stopped teaching shop class and now nobody wants to get their hands dirty.” There is some truth to the pipeline issue, but blaming schools is convenient. It lets companies avoid looking at why the people who do enter the trades leave within five years.
Construction consistently ranks among the highest-turnover industries in the country, with roughly one in five workers separating from their employer every year according to BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover data. That is not a recruitment problem. That is a retention problem. And retention is a leadership function.
What good leadership looks like in the trades
At my roofing company, we improved retention significantly by doing three things. None of them were complicated. All of them required someone in leadership to actually care.
First, every new hire got a 90-day mentor. Not a training manual. A person. Someone who showed them how the crew worked, answered questions, and made sure they did not feel like an outsider on day one.
Second, we created a visible career path. Laborer to installer to lead to foreman to project manager. Posted on the wall. Everyone knew what the next step was and what they needed to do to get there.
Third, we checked in. Every month. Not performance reviews. Just conversations. “How is it going? What do you need? What is frustrating you?” Most of the time, the answer was something we could fix in a week.
The money conversation
Pay matters. I am not going to pretend it does not. A roofer making $18 an hour in 2026 when a fast food chain is offering $17 with air conditioning is going to think about it.
But I have also watched skilled tradespeople turn down higher-paying jobs to stay with a company that treated them well. Loyalty is not dead in the trades. It is just reserved for companies that earn it.
If you are losing people to competitors who pay a dollar more an hour, the pay is not the problem. The problem is that a dollar was all it took for them to leave.
What the industry needs to do
Invest in foreman training. Most foremen in construction got promoted because they were good at the trade, not because they were good at managing people. Those are different skills. Train them.
Create real apprenticeship programs. Not the kind where the new guy carries materials for six months and hopes someone teaches them something. Structured programs with milestones and accountability on both sides.
Pay people fairly and tell them the truth about what they can earn over a career. The trades are a legitimate path to a good life. A union electrician can make six figures. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for construction managers was $106,980 in May 2024, with experienced professionals earning well above that. We need to say that out loud and mean it.
The labor shortage in the trades is real. But it is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is an industry that has historically treated its workforce as disposable. Fix the leadership, and the people show up.
About Khary Penebaker
Khary Penebaker is Division President at MetalMaster-RoofMaster, the Upper Midwest division of Wolkow Braker Roofing Corp. He previously built Roofed Right America from startup to $35M+ in revenue with 180 employees (2014-2025) and founded Penebaker Enterprises, growing it from $1.5M to $15M. A gun violence prevention advocate and former Everytown for Gun Safety Fellow, Khary brings two decades of leadership in commercial roofing, architectural sheet metal, and civic engagement.
Common questions
Why is there a skilled trades shortage?
Decades of pushing four year college as the only path, combined with construction companies that treat workers as disposable. The workers exist. The employers who invest in them are the ones who keep them.
How do you attract young people to the trades?
Show them the math. A plumber or electrician with five years of experience often out earns a college graduate with five years of student debt. Then show them a career path, not just a job.
What can construction companies do about the labor shortage?
Train your people, pay them fairly, make safety non negotiable, and give them a reason to stay. The companies that struggle to find workers are usually the ones that struggle to keep them.
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Last updated: June 28, 2026