Meanwhile, AGC is encouraging other states to follow the lead of Kansas, which allows high school students to enroll tuition free in public community college career and technical programs and have the courses count toward their high school diplomas.

Similarly, if signed into law by the governor, a bill that recently passed both the Alabama House and Senate will allow the state to set aside up to $10 million to fund dual-enrollment scholarships for high school students interested in a trade.

But industry image remains a problem. In 2010, the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute launched Go Build America to help students, parents and educators understand the value of learning a trade. Following Alabama’s lead, Georgia launched its own Go Build initiative in 2012, and now Indiana is exploring the idea as well.

“The program is designed to address the specific labor needs in each state,” says Bob Woods, executive director of Go Build America. “While we want to expand the campaign, we only want to enter states where labor demands exist. Career fairs and expos are not enough to solve this labor shortage.”

The program appears to be making strides. A Go Build survey in Alabama showed a 51% increase in first-year construction trade education enrollments in 2013 and more than 30% of students said Go Build played a direct role in their decision to enter the skilled trades.

Key to improving the industry’s image problem is breaking the “broker mentality” of many companies, says Mike Holland, division president with Houston-based Marek Bros. Instead of cultivating and maintaining their own work force, more construction companies are contracting workers through labor brokers, thereby reducing responsibility for employee benefits, training and wages, Holland explains.

“As an industry, we’re not going to convince young people to choose a path in the crafts unless we are truly committed to their future. Using brokers contradicts the message we’re trying to send,” Holland says.

Marek is among a group of owners, contractors and specialty contractors that have joined forces to develop and share effective training, recruitment and retention practices. The Houston-based alliance, known as the Construction Career Collaborative, or C3, draws on national best practices to develop an accreditation process that requires employers to comply with safety training standards and hourly payroll practices.

Jerry Nevlud, president and CEO of AGC Houston, says C3’s goal is to educate the industry and the community on the benefits of investing in the health of  commercial construction craft workers. He says that everyone—both open and union shops—are welcome at the table.

“The challenge we have is not just meeting immediate labor needs but developing a sustainable work force for decades,” Nevlud says. “We need to show young men and women that the industry is committed to providing not just a job but a career.”