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. The industry needs an estimated 500,000 new workers every year just to keep pace with demand and retirements.
But framing this as a labor problem lets leadership off the hook. The real issue isn’t that people don’t want to work in the trades. It’s that the trades haven’t given people enough reasons to stay.
TL;DR: The skilled trades shortage isn’t a labor problem. It’s a leadership problem. The construction industry loses workers because of poor management, no career paths, and a culture that treats people like they’re replaceable. Fix the leadership, and the labor follows.
The real reasons people leave
I ran a commercial roofing company for almost a decade. I’ve hired hundreds of trade workers. The ones who left didn’t 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.
We surveyed our crew once about job satisfaction. The top complaint wasn’t pay. It was feeling invisible. Guys who had been with us for three years said nobody had ever asked them what they wanted to do next. That’s 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’s 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.
The average turnover rate in construction is around 21% annually. That’s not a recruitment problem. That’s a retention problem. And retention is a leadership function.
What good leadership looks like in the trades
At my roofing company, we cut turnover in half 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 didn’t 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’s it going? What do you need? What’s frustrating you?” Most of the time, the answer was something we could fix in a week.
The money conversation
Pay matters. I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t. 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’ve also watched skilled tradespeople turn down higher-paying jobs to stay with a company that treated them well. Loyalty isn’t dead in the trades. It’s just reserved for companies that earn it.
If you’re losing people to competitors who pay a dollar more an hour, the pay isn’t the problem. The problem is that a dollar is 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. A good project manager in commercial construction can make $120,000 or more. We need to say that out loud and mean it.
The labor shortage in the trades is real. But it’s 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 a Regional General Manager at Great Day Improvements, overseeing operations across Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. He previously built Roofed Right America from startup to $35M+ in revenue with 180 employees 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 experience in construction, operations, and civic engagement.
Frequently Asked 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: March 25, 2026