With the rise of artificial intelligence, there are reports every day of industries, including healthcare, accounting, and law, all projecting large-scale downsizing (some estimates say 20%) over the next 10 years. But there is one big exception to this trend: skilled trades.

We have a rising shortage of workers trained as electricians, plumbers, roofers, and carpenters. Workforce data also shows that the retirements projected in these trades over the next 10 years exceed the workers coming in to replace them, and President Donald Trump is leading the charge to close this gap.

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Trump’s new announcement that he is on the verge of making a $500 million deal with Harvard to run a large-scale trade school and launch a series of new programs sends a signal the whole country needs to hear: The future of higher education must include skilled jobs training. 

What better way to begin reeducating the parents of high schoolers about what will help their child get a job when they graduate than to add that “even Harvard” provides this critical education. Meeting rising job demands should be the priority of Ivy League schools and four-year schools alike. That is what our Home Builders Institute has been doing for decades, and we welcome Harvard to the mission.

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The president understands that AI is transforming the labor market at lightning speed. One thing that AI cannot do without workers is carpentry, electrical work, and welding. Those are the exact trades the United States will need to build the data centers that power AI to run and grow. 

It is not an exaggeration to say that our technology revolution depends on skilled labor. Technology cannot win in America without the skilled trades — and especially electricians — to back them up and keep their systems online. Trump’s investment would put rocket fuel into our own focus on increasing the skilled training of American workers in HBI’s BuildStrong Academies all across the U.S. 

HBI currently operates BuildStrong Academies in Sacramento, Orlando, Charlotte, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Puerto Rico. These academies offer programs that introduce students to skilled trades and connect them directly to jobs or apprenticeships. Our goal is to grow to 24 academies nationwide, and Trump’s new attention to our mission helps boost the importance of training skilled workers.

The path forward is clear: invest in skilled trades, empower the next generation, and build the foundation of America’s future. As CEO of the Home Builders Institute, I am proud that wages for blue-collar people working in skilled trades are already up 1.4% over last year after just the first seven months of Trump’s term. 

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America is beginning to reverse a nearly three-decade trend of steering students toward four-year degrees instead of careers in the skilled trades. The proof of that is in the pudding, as they say, because there are now nearly 400,000 job openings in trades that no one is training to fill. HBI emphasizes that the trades should once again be recognized as a first-choice career path, offering stability, fulfillment, and long-term success.

I am proud to have spent a career in the construction industry, which is not far from Trump’s own experience in real estate. He is right to look around and think America’s priorities should be Harvard’s, too. There is global competition to lead the development of AI technology, and China would love to knock us into second or third place. But we can stop that. HBI, Harvard, and others can revive skilled labor training in America and make sure the AI revolution is “Made in America.”

Ed Brady is CEO of the HomeBuilders Institute