Lowe’s and more than 75 employers, educators and workforce organizations are joining forces to train and develop 1 million skilled tradespeople over the next decade as employers confront mounting shortages in construction, energy, manufacturing and telecommunications.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Lowe’s is spearheading a new national workforce initiative aimed at preparing 1 million people for skilled-trades careers by 2035 as employers struggle to find enough workers for jobs that remain essential even as artificial intelligence transforms other parts of the economy.
The Lowe’s Foundation announced the Building Futures Skilled Trades Coalition on Tuesday, bringing together more than 75 companies, schools and workforce organizations.
Participating organizations include Nvidia, General Motors, AT&T, Bank of America, Carrier, DeWalt and Duke Energy.
The coalition will focus on occupations across construction, manufacturing, telecommunications, energy and other sectors where employers increasingly report difficulty filling positions.
Federal estimates illustrate the scale of the problem. The U.S. Department of Education projects that as many as 2.1 million skilled-trades positions could remain unfilled by 2030, potentially costing the economy as much as $1 trillion annually.
An aging workforce is contributing to the shortage. According to the Education Department, only two younger workers enter skilled trades for every five workers who retire.
The coalition intends to address that imbalance by expanding training opportunities while challenging the assumption that a four-year college degree is the standard route to economic security.
Members plan to promote trades as an alternative pathway to stable, well-paying careers and increase awareness of opportunities in fields that require technical expertise and hands-on work.
Rather than having employers and educators build separate workforce programs in isolation, the coalition will also attempt to connect companies, schools and workforce organizations so successful training and credentialing models can be expanded across different regions.
A third priority will be measuring whether programs actually lead to employment.
Participating organizations intend to develop shared methods for tracking workers from enrollment and training through credentialing, hiring and longer-term career outcomes. The data would allow the coalition to identify programs that most effectively move people into jobs facing worker shortages.
The effort expands on workforce investments Lowe’s has already made through its foundation.
In 2023, the Lowe’s Foundation launched its Gable Grants program with an initial $50 million commitment designed to help prepare 50,000 workers for the trades.
The program has since grown to include 73 community colleges and nonprofit organizations across 30 states.
In April, the foundation increased its commitment to $250 million and established a goal of helping train and develop 250,000 skilled tradespeople by 2035.
Gable Grants supports workforce development in occupations including electrical work, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC and construction.
The new coalition extends that effort beyond Lowe’s direct grantmaking by creating a broader network of employers, educators and workforce organizations pursuing a common national target.
“The next industrial revolution won’t be built by algorithms alone. It will be built by the millions of skilled trade professionals who power, connect, and move this country forward,” Lowe’s Chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison said in announcing the coalition.
The initiative also reflects growing concern that rapid advances in artificial intelligence could widen the divide between jobs vulnerable to automation and careers requiring physical skills that cannot easily be replicated by software.
Ellison has repeatedly pointed to the difficulty Lowe’s contractor customers face finding qualified tradespeople and argued that those occupations will remain necessary regardless of advances in AI.
“AI isn’t going to fix a hole in your roof,” Ellison said during the Business Roundtable’s CEO Workforce Forum in Washington in June 2025.
“It’s not going to respond to an electrical issue in your home. It’s not going to stop your water heater from leaking.
“We’re always going to need … skilled trades individuals.”
AI development may itself increase demand for those workers.
The expansion of data centers, power generation and digital infrastructure requires electricians, HVAC technicians, construction workers and other skilled tradespeople to build, operate and maintain the physical systems supporting AI.
AT&T Chairman and CEO John Stankey made a similar argument in announcing his company’s involvement in the coalition.
AT&T is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the expansion and modernization of its fiber and 5G networks, projects that depend heavily on trained technical workers.
“As AI and other emerging technologies become more deeply embedded in everyday life, the resilient broadband networks that underpin them will be more important than ever—and those networks can’t be built or maintained without skilled workers,” Stankey said.
By combining employer demand, educational programs and workforce organizations under a single initiative, the Building Futures Skilled Trades Coalition aims to expand the pipeline of workers entering occupations that companies say will remain critical to U.S. infrastructure and economic growth through the next decade.
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