demand jobs in labor-strapped sectors.

• Growing federal investments in employer-led job education and training programs.

• Expanding access to childcare for working parents.

Employer-led training programs include the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management program— an employer-led job training initiative currently working with more than 2,000 employers in 37 state. The program will expand to a total of 42 states by 2023 and later this year will launch a new online learning platform to reach and support even more employers and education partners across America.

Programs such as these may go some way towards finally addressing a longstanding worker shortage in construction and related fields, which nation-wide had 357,000 construction job openings in April, according to the Associated General Contractors labor report.

In the private sector, numerous training programs are being implemented to expand the skilled worker base.

One interesting program is being created through a new partnership between Home Depot and the Girl Scouts, who are together developing a fall program to offer training in skilled trades to girls, which could help address a lack of gender and racial diversity and a shortage of workers in the field.

This coming fall, 300 girls fromAtlanta, Denver and Houston — 100 from each area — will participate in this program.

According to Shannon Gerber, the Executive Director of the Home Depot Foundation, “the workshops will provide hands-on experience with carpentry and other building construction skills.”

The workshops will be led by women, and they will also offer scholarships which could help girls who are interested in pursuing a career in the industry.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, 11% of construction workers and 27% of architecture and engineering professionals were women. Similar trends can be seen across the board for blue collar work, clearly indicating that women are an untapped source of labor.

With post-pandemic programs such as these, there may soon be a light at the end of the skilled worker shortage that has plagued such industries for years.