{"id":4190,"date":"2026-07-25T12:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4190"},"modified":"2026-07-25T12:42:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:42:45","slug":"bechtel-ceo-to-build-americas-future-we-must-first-build-the-builders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4190","title":{"rendered":"Bechtel CEO: to build America\u2019s future, we must first build the builders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since its founding, our nation\u2019s capacity to build at scale has made the United States a world power. The railroads and highways that moved people and goods. The refineries, pipelines, nuclear plants, and LNG terminals that fueled our growth. The defense systems that kept us safe. America wouldn\u2019t be America without them.<\/p>\n

Read more Salman Rushdie describes a \u2018lake of blood\u2019 as his convicted attacker faces terrorism charges tied to the 2022 stabbing<\/a><\/p>\n

None of it built itself. Our most critical infrastructure was raised over generations \u2014 designed and engineered, then constructed by carpenters, masons, laborers, ironworkers, operators, teamsters, pipefitters, welders, and electricians. They built the facilities that made America the world\u2019s largest producer of both oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n

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We need to marshal that workforce again. Demand for AI data centers, reshored manufacturing, and new energy is surging all at once \u2014 against a backdrop of aging grids, roads, and ports. Few generations have had the chance to build so much, so fast, with so much riding on the outcome.<\/p>\n

Whether we rise to the occasion won\u2019t be decided by money, technology, or political will alone. It will be decided by how well we, as a nation, can develop and motivate skilled craft professionals. Unlike almost any other career, this work is stubbornly \u2014 and satisfyingly \u2014 physical. It happens on site, in specific places, done by people whose expertise takes years to earn. Every shift, every day, the country grows because of these builders. They are the unsung heroes of American industrial might.<\/p>\n

That makes the future of America\u2019s skilled trades the challenge of the moment. For too long, many treated a career in the trades as a consolation prize \u2014 what young people did if college wasn\u2019t in the cards. For a generation, the pipeline of new craft professionals hasn\u2019t kept pace with demand.<\/p>\n

Now the math is catching up with us. The main bottleneck to America\u2019s AI ambitions won\u2019t be a shortage of computer scientists. It will be a shortage of skilled labor. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the U.S. will need 140,000 more electricians, HVAC technicians, pipefitters, heavy-equipment operators, welders, and construction laborers by 2030 \u2014 to build the infrastructure for AI alone.<\/p>\n

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Our industry, our schools, and our leaders have to change that story. These aren\u2019t fallback jobs. They\u2019re careers where Americans can earn a good living, support a family, and build rare skill at the intersection of craftsmanship and advanced technology. The numbers prove it: the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects skilled-trades employment will grow about 5% from 2024 to 2034 \u2014 roughly 70% faster than the national average \u2014 and these jobs pay above the median American wage.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also noble, patriotic, and full of purpose. Build a power plant, and you keep the lights on for millions. Build an LNG terminal, and you help allies secure their energy independence. Build a factory, and you bring jobs and dignity back to a region that lost them.<\/p>\n

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America is beginning to rediscover this. Communities are investing in apprenticeships, states are rebuilding vocational training, and private and philanthropic capital is flowing into workforce development. Like our democratic republic itself, these efforts are decentralized \u2014 local, pragmatic, and responsive to what communities actually need.<\/p>\n

Read more When 10,000 doctors stood up and cheered for a cancer drug \u2014 America\u2019s innovation machine made it possible<\/a><\/p>\n

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Our company, Bechtel, has been in the engineering and construction business for 128 years \u2014 more than half the life of the country. We\u2019ve seen what\u2019s possible when the nation and industry invest in people. Time and again, we\u2019ve met the labor demands of megaprojects by partnering with schools, unions, training organizations, and local communities to open pathways into craft careers.<\/p>\n

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At any moment, tens of thousands of Bechtel craft professionals are deployed across some of America\u2019s most complex projects. A few years ago, we mobilized more than 9,000 in Georgia to rescue and deliver the first large-scale nuclear reactors built in the U.S. in three decades. Today, roughly 17,000 are at work across the five major LNG projects we\u2019re building along the Gulf Coast. And we anticipate over 4,500 construction jobs to build America\u2019s largest semiconductor facility in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lesson in all of it: the surest way to build the future is to build the people who will build it. At Bechtel, we believe our greatest legacy isn\u2019t any single project. It\u2019s the generations of builders, craftspeople, and leaders we\u2019ve helped develop along the way. That\u2019s why we\u2019re proud to be a builder of builders.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s always more to do. We need to reach young people weighing their options, veterans leaving military service, and mid-career workers looking to grow \u2014 and show them a clear career outlook: real advancement, tangible training, a future worth choosing. Apprenticeships, community college partnerships, and industry-led training need room to grow.<\/p>\n

One of the underappreciated rewards of this work is knowing it will serve communities for decades. Infrastructure is how we leave our mark and set the next generation up to succeed.<\/p>\n

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At 250 years young, we have the chance to call a new generation to this heroic work. If we invest in people the way past generations invested in us, the next great chapter of American progress won\u2019t just be dreamed. It will be built.<\/p>\n

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of <\/em>Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n

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