The lack of workers in the construction industry is a nationwide problem in the US. At the beginning of 2023, Associated Builders and Contractors estimated the sector would need to attract 546,000 additional workers on top of the normal hiring pace to meet the demand for labor this year.

To curb the skilled trade labor shortage, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order to create a first-of-its-kind job training program managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. The Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program provides workforce development grants up to $40,000 per each new employee hired and trained in Pennsylvania at contractors completing work funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or the Inflation Reduction Act.

Shapiro's office reports that the program will use as much as $400 million for workforce training in Pennsylvania over the next five years—the largest infusion in funding for workforce training in state history, supporting as many as 10,000 new jobs.

"The Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program will help train the next generation of skilled workers in Pennsylvania and break down barriers that shut too many workers out of real opportunity," Shapiro says. "We're going to build Pennsylvania's infrastructure with the best, most highly trained workforce in the country—and this initiative will be a model for other states to follow."