As we close out 2025, two dramatically opposing workforce trends are reshaping America’s economy: the tech sector continues to hemorrhage jobs while the construction industry desperately searches for workers.
This unprecedented divergence is creating what labor economists are calling “The Great Workforce Shift”—a fundamental realignment that could redefine career pathways for millions of Americans.
The Tech Sector Bloodbath Continues
The numbers are sobering: in 2025 alone, 626 layoffs at tech companies have impacted 182,963 workers. This follows 2024’s devastating toll where 551 tech companies laid off 152,922 employees.
Major players are leading the charge. Verizon announced layoffs affecting approximately 15,000 workers, marking one of the year’s largest single cuts. Microsoft has made significant job cuts totaling 15,000 roles—9,000 employees were laid off in July, and approximately 6,000 roles were cut in May.
Even companies posting strong financial results aren’t immune—Cisco announced it was laying off 221 employees after reporting $56.7 billion in revenue for the 2025 fiscal year, a 5 percent increase from 2024.
AI: The Double-Edged Sword
The irony isn’t lost on industry observers: artificial intelligence, once hailed as the future of tech employment, is now accelerating job cuts.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated that the rollout of generative AI and resulting automation would lead to a reduction in the company’s overall corporate workforce, noting that fewer people would be needed for some jobs while more would be needed for others.
Among factors leading to tech sector layoffs in 2025 is the rapid rise of artificial Intelligence and automation, as companies reconfigure their workforces to leverage AI for increased efficiency and reduced operating costs.
Construction: A Half-Million Workers Short
While tech workers update their LinkedIn profiles, construction firms can’t find enough hands to swing hammers. The construction industry will need to attract an estimated 439,000 net new workers in 2025 to meet anticipated demand for construction services.
This isn’t a temporary blip. According to an analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the industry is short about 500,000 workers – specifically individuals with skilled trades experience. Even more concerning, 92 percent of contractors report they are having a hard time filling open positions.
The consequences are severe. Forty-five percent of respondents report experiencing project delays due to shortages of their own, or subcontractors’ workers. The shortage has led to a reduction of approximately 19,000 single-family homes not built in 2024, representing an economic loss of $8.143 billion.
The Pay Premium for Construction Workers
Unlike tech, where competition has driven salaries into stratospheric territory only to see them collapse with layoffs, construction wages are steadily climbing due to simple supply and demand.
In April 2025, construction workers earned $39.33 an hour, representing a 24% higher rate compared to the private sector.
Average hourly earnings throughout the construction industry are up 4.4% over the past 12 months, significantly outpacing earnings growth across all industries.
Some regions are seeing even more dramatic increases—Nevada reported the largest annual increase of 10.6% in construction wages.
The wage gap between tech and construction is narrowing. While senior software engineers might still command premium salaries, entry and mid-level tech workers facing layoffs are discovering that skilled trades can offer competitive compensation without the volatility.
Why Aren’t They Switching?
Given these stark realities, why aren’t more displaced tech workers pivoting to construction? The answer lies in perception, training, and cultural momentum.
The Stigma Factor: For decades, American culture has elevated white-collar knowledge work above blue-collar trades. Society has placed greater emphasis on academic-based career paths, such as those requiring higher levels of college education, while undervaluing vocational training and skilled trades. Many tech workers with college degrees view construction as a step backward, despite the strong compensation.
The Skills Gap: Moving from coding to carpentry isn’t a weekend pivot. Construction work requires physical stamina, hands-on training, and often multi-year apprenticeships. A software developer who’s spent a decade in climate-controlled offices might struggle with the physical demands of construction sites.
Geographic Mismatch: Tech hubs like San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin don’t always align with the hottest construction markets. Texas remains the top state for construction jobs in 2025, adding 28,700 new positions between March 2024 and March 2025, while Florida added 11,400 construction jobs during the same time period.
The Infrastructure Boom Fueling Construction Demand
Unlike tech’s boom-bust cycles driven by venture capital and market sentiment, construction’s growth is anchored in tangible, long-term needs.
Federal infrastructure spending is pouring billions into projects nationwide. With expected exponential growth of data used to support work and life—from more autonomous vehicles, virtual-reality software, or other forms of cloud-based technology—more data centers will be needed to support data processing.
Ironically, AI’s growth requires massive physical infrastructure that tech workers helped design but construction workers must build.
The top two fastest-growing construction-industry jobs are wind turbine service technicians (+56.3%) and solar photovoltaic installers (+26.4%), reflecting the growing emphasis on renewable energy.
The green energy transition alone could absorb tens of thousands of workers over the next decade.
Construction’s Hidden Tech Jobs
Here’s where the narrative gets interesting: modern construction increasingly resembles tech.
Demand is also high for logisticians (+17.4%), financial managers (+14.3%), and computer and information systems managers (+11.5%), highlighting the increasing need for efficient supply chains, financial oversight, and digital integration as large-scale nonresidential projects expand.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) Specialists – Experts in 3D modeling software like Autodesk Revit and Navisworks are in high demand to streamline design and execution.
Drones survey sites, AI optimizes scheduling, and IoT sensors monitor everything from concrete curing to equipment utilization.
This tech-construction hybrid could be the bridge for displaced tech workers. Someone with data analytics skills could transition to construction management.
A UX designer might find opportunities creating interfaces for construction tech platforms. The construction industry needs digital transformation—it just doesn’t know how to find the talent.
The Economic Implications
This workforce misalignment has profound economic consequences. If the labor gap persists, the industry could potentially lose nearly US$124 billion in productivity and delayed projects.
Housing affordability is directly tied to construction labor costs. The unweighted average increase in construction time due to the labor shortage is 1.98 months, with smaller builders experiencing an even greater delay.
These delays cascade into higher prices for buyers and renters, exacerbating America’s housing crisis.
Meanwhile, tech’s contraction creates its own economic ripples. The firms announced layoffs totaling more than 60,000 roles eliminated this year, concentrated in high-cost metros.
These unemployed workers reduce consumer spending, particularly in the luxury and discretionary categories that sustained many urban economies.
What Needs to Change
Bridging this divide requires coordinated action from multiple stakeholders:
For Education Systems: Revitalize vocational training programs that have been decimated over the past three decades. Partner with tech companies to create transition programs teaching construction technology roles to displaced workers.
For Construction Companies: Seven out of eight firms raised base pay for workers as much or more than they did a year earlier. And 42 percent initiated or increased spending on training and professional development in the past year. But more is needed—streamlined onboarding, better benefits packages, and clear career progression paths comparable to tech’s structured advancement.
For Tech Workers: Reconsider biases about blue-collar work. Construction isn’t your grandfather’s industry anymore. It’s being transformed by technology, offers job security that tech clearly cannot, and increasingly provides comparable compensation without the constant threat of layoffs.
For Policymakers: Construction officials called for more funding for construction education and new, lawful ways for people to enter the country to work in the industry. Immigration reform could help address the shortage while displaced American tech workers receive training subsidies for trades programs.
The Perfect Storm of Opportunity
We’re witnessing a rare moment in economic history where two massive labor market forces are moving in opposite directions. Tech’s correction, painful as it is for those affected, creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address construction’s chronic labor shortage.
The question isn’t whether these trends will continue—they will. Construction demand is driven by fundamental needs: housing, infrastructure, energy transition. These aren’t subject to the whims of venture capital or stock market sentiment. Meanwhile, tech’s AI-driven restructuring is permanent, not cyclical.
The question is whether we’ll facilitate the transition. Will displaced tech workers find pathways into skilled trades? Will construction companies modernize their recruitment and culture to attract knowledge workers? Will education systems pivot quickly enough to support career transitions?
Looking Forward
The E&C industry continues to face significant labor shortages, a challenge expected to intensify by 2026—with a projected need for 499,000 new workers, up from 439,000 in 2025. The shortage isn’t resolving itself.
For construction firms, this is the moment to invest in recruitment infrastructure, improve workplace culture, and create clear pathways for non-traditional candidates.
For tech workers facing an uncertain future in their industry, it’s time to reconsider what “success” looks like and whether a steady paycheck in a growing field beats the volatility of tech.
The Great Workforce Shift is happening whether we manage it or not. The only question is whether we’ll be proactive in helping workers transition, or reactive in dealing with the consequences of unfilled construction jobs and chronically unemployed tech workers.
One thing is certain: someone needs to build the data centers that power the AI taking tech jobs. The irony of that equation may be the catalyst that finally bridges these two worlds.
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