Workforce
Despite ‘Widespread Industry Disruption,' Unions Report Membership Growth
North America’s Building Trades Unions note 47,198 new members in addition to "record" 88,000 new apprentices last year across 14 crafts.
"At a time of rising concern about skilled labor availability, [building trades] have the infrastructure and capacity to more than triple apprenticeship enrollment at no cost to taxpayers,” said union group President Sean McGarvey Feb. 11.
North America’s Building Trades Unions says it netted 47,198 new members on top of a record 88,000 added apprentices last year despite “widespread industry disruption” connected to withheld federal funds and policy uncertainty.
Sean McGarvey, president of the organization that represents 14 building trades, attributed the growth in 2025 as well as the year before to workforce development through “collectively bargained investments” reinforced by “federal infrastructure and energy policies,” claiming a total of more than 300,000 people enrolled in registered apprentice programs during that period.
"At a time of rising concern about skilled labor availability, [building trades] have the infrastructure and capacity to more than triple apprenticeship enrollment at no cost to taxpayers,” said McGarvey in a Feb. 22 statement, calling for “sound public policy" in the Trump administration, similar to that during the term of President Joe Biden.
“While the current administration has announced future foreign investments in the United States, none have yet produced a single work hour for our members," McGarvey added. "Instead, cancellations, delays, withdrawn permits, withheld funds and policy uncertainty have jeopardized these anticipated domestic investments.”
According to the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Construction Backlog Indicator in January, the amount of work that will be performed by commercial and industrial contractors in the months ahead, fell to a four-year low—declining 0.2 months since December, with a reading of 8 months. The survey said the backlog has shrunk 0.4 months since January 2025, with commercial and institutional and heavy industrial backlogs both showing yearly and monthly declines.
Infrastructure backlog, however, was strongest at 10 months, up two months year-over-year and 0.9 months since December, reported Associated Builders and Contractors.
Related to the declines, its chief economist economist Anirban Basu said Feb. 10 that construction contractors are “shockingly sanguine” about the near-term. “Just 13% of contractors expect their sales to decrease over the next six months, the smallest share since February 2022,” he added.
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Meanwhile, the Associated General Contractors of America reported that contractors’ overall sentiment has “dampened notably compared to last year.”
Yet with skilled labor workforce needs growing in key sectors such as advanced energy, McGarvey warned that continued federal investment in local labor resources is needed to meet intensifying project demands.
"Uncertainty and instability for the construction industry are incompatible with building the high-road construction workforce America urgently needs at this time,” he said. “We urge all policymakers to remain focused on what works: real investments for real projects that are tied to our training infrastructure to strengthen America now and into the future.”
