Phoenix is in the middle of one of the most sustained building booms in its history. Industrial campuses, master-planned communities, data centers, build-to-rent neighborhoods — the cranes are everywhere. But behind the activity is a problem that doesn’t make the press release: Arizona doesn’t have enough skilled construction workers to build everything that’s been planned, permitted, and financed.
The Arizona Builders Alliance (ABA) is one of the organizations trying to change that.
What the Workforce Gap Actually Looks Like
The numbers are stark. The construction industry in Arizona has faced a persistent skilled labor shortage for years, and the gap has widened as the state’s population growth outpaced workforce development. As of recent industry data, Arizona needs to add tens of thousands of construction workers over the next decade to keep pace with projected demand. Nationally, the Associated General Contractors of America has flagged that nearly 60% of construction firms report difficulty filling craft worker positions — and Arizona, as one of the fastest-growing states in the country, feels that squeeze harder than most.
Think about what’s in the pipeline across the Phoenix metro right now. Projects like the $122 million industrial campus at The Base in Glendale and the dozen-plus Arizona Builders Alliance member projects currently in development represent billions in construction activity. Every one of those projects depends on electricians, ironworkers, HVAC technicians, concrete finishers, plumbers, and heavy equipment operators showing up on day one.
When they can’t, schedules slip. Costs climb. And in a market where new housing supply is already struggling to keep up with demand, delays have real consequences for buyers.
How the ABA Is Building the Pipeline
The Arizona Builders Alliance doesn’t just lobby for the industry — it runs programs designed to create the next generation of tradespeople. The approach operates on a few levels.
Workforce Development Programs
ABA runs training and apprenticeship programs that connect job seekers — including career changers and recent graduates — with hands-on instruction and direct pathways into the trades. These aren’t abstract classroom programs. They’re structured around the actual skills contractors need on active job sites.
The ABA’s construction career days are one example. These events bring high school students face-to-face with tools, equipment, and tradespeople at working sites, giving young Arizonans a realistic picture of what a career in construction actually pays and looks like day-to-day. That’s important, because one of the biggest obstacles to recruiting isn’t lack of interest — it’s a lack of accurate information. A lot of teenagers have no idea that a journeyman electrician or a licensed plumber can clear $70,000–$90,000 or more annually, often without a four-year degree.
Community College and K–12 Partnerships
The ABA works directly with Arizona community colleges and high school programs to build career and technical education (CTE) pathways into the trades. Schools in the East Valley and across Maricopa County have expanded construction-related coursework in part because of sustained industry engagement from organizations like the ABA.
This matters long-term. The pipeline for a licensed tradesperson starts years before they ever walk onto a job site. If the ABA can get a 16-year-old interested and enrolled in a construction program, that person is potentially a journeyman by their early twenties — exactly when the Arizona market will need them most.
Advocacy for Workforce Policy
Beyond training, the ABA engages state and local government on workforce-related policy. That includes advocating for apprenticeship funding, opposing unnecessary licensing barriers that slow entry into the trades, and pushing for immigration and visa policies that affect the available labor pool.
None of that is glamorous. But policy shapes the environment in which training programs succeed or fail.
Why This Matters to the Housing Market
Here’s the direct line from ABA workforce programs to your home purchase or investment property: labor availability is one of the primary cost drivers in new construction right now. When builders can’t find enough qualified workers, they either pay premium rates to attract them from out of state or they reduce the number of active projects. Both outcomes push prices up and slow the delivery of new supply.
Arizona’s housing affordability has been under pressure for three years. Metro Phoenix has outpaced the nation in home sales even during rate-shock periods, which means demand isn’t going away. The only sustainable path to better affordability is more supply — and more supply requires more workers.
A stronger construction workforce doesn’t just help builders. It helps buyers who are waiting on a new home that keeps getting pushed back. It helps investors whose proforma depends on a project delivering on time. It helps renters in submarkets like Surprise and Goodyear where build-to-rent projects are one of the main sources of new inventory.
The Bigger Picture
The ABA’s workforce mission connects to something larger than any single project or neighborhood. Arizona has bet its economic future on continued growth. Semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, data infrastructure, housing — all of it requires construction. And construction requires people who actually know how to build things.
Recruiting and retaining those people doesn’t happen automatically. It takes organized, sustained effort — the kind the Arizona Builders Alliance has committed to over years of programming and advocacy.
If you’re tracking the Arizona market as a buyer, seller, or investor, don’t just watch interest rates and listing prices. Watch the workforce. Labor supply will shape what gets built, when it gets delivered, and what it costs — probably more than any single policy change or rate move in the next few years.
The next time you see a crew breaking ground on a new community or a commercial project in the Phoenix metro, the ABA’s work is part of what made that possible.