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below university enrollment and higher professional school The numbers suggest that members of Generation Z may enter the workforce as the “tool belt generation,” according to a new report from ADP.
The Roseland, New Jersey-based payroll services company tracked the number of Americans in blue-collar, white-collar and service jobs and found that between January 2019 and May 2024, the share of blue-collar employment rose more rapidly for workers in their early twenties. than for workers aged 25 to 39, indicating that the younger generation may be turning to the trades.
However, the share of these workers has remained stable since 2022, indicating a plateau or a possible trend reversal. Still, construction needs new workers, and experts believe Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, is a good fit.
Here, Construction Dive talks to Kit Dickinson, construction industry executive at ADP, about what makes this generation right for construction and how the field can capitalize on the emerging workforce.
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Immersion in construction: Gen Z appears to be entering the blue-collar workforce in greater numbers than in the past. What about the right timing for the build to take advantage of this new group?
KIT DICKINSON: The way I see it is that we’re really at a tipping point, where the Gen Z population embraces this belief that if you want to be part of a growing industry and have the potential for career growth, job security and good income possibilities, this way. it can be achieved better by entering the trades.
Kit Dickinson
Authorization granted by ADP
They are seeing their peers go to traditional four-year colleges. They read all about tech layoffs and office jobs being replaced by artificial intelligence, about people leaving with loads of student loan debt. So that pendulum is swinging towards doing construction work for many of this generation.
It’s been great to see the construction industry doing a much better and more creative job of promoting the benefits of joining the trades. For example, dispel some of the old misconceptions that if you go into construction, you’ll be holding a shovel, holding up highway traffic, or holding the same hammer for 30 years. This is absolutely not the case.
They are doing an effective job of promoting the potential for income and growth opportunities and how technology is an active part of the workplace, the impact you can have on your community. All of these things really resonate with Gen Z.
We’re also seeing more people going to high schools or even high schools to invest in internships and promote contests, other ways to promote tomorrow’s workers today, because they’re needed in high volume.
What else are employers doing to hire young people?
We’re also seeing the industry do a good job of attracting Gen Z through benefits tailored to what’s important to them. Some of the more progressive companies are looking at what menu of benefits they should offer.
Some of the things that are most important to this generation are tuition reimbursement, mental health counseling, community service days, and even things like pet insurance and pet boarding in the workplace where appropriate, which may not have historically been as important for other generations.
Then when you start looking at keeping those people in your company and in the industry, those career development opportunities, including management, even the path to entrepreneurship are important. This generation is ambitious by nature. They want to “move up the ladder” as they say, so it’s important to be able to present and offer a career ladder that has many different options.
Generation Z has a reputation for being socially conscious. What can contractors do to demonstrate that they share these values?
Broadly speaking, they want to feel heard. Make sure you are actively consulting and interacting with workers. They want to be heard in these discussions, to have a voice. Historically, perhaps construction had a negative perception in this regard.
Some of the other things are making certain accommodations in the workplace that weren’t there before. Target it to attract more women into construction by, for example, having breastfeeding stations in the workplace and making equipment accommodation rather than one-size-fits-all equipment.
These are things that need to evolve and be more progressive in some ways to help attract and retain these coveted workers, because they are in high demand.
With federal funds flowing into major projects, is it now more important than ever for builders to up their recruiting game?
Absolutely. The construction sector, while continuing to achieve overall growth, is experiencing some softening around private or residential work. But this is being offset by these government projects. When they were enacted, there was a projected need for approximately 500,000 more workers in an already stressed labor market.
What used to be kind of a nice to have, that we have to branch out and explore other generations and younger workers and so on, is now a necessity because there’s just too much work. And if we talk to different companies it’s still the No. 1 challenge. What keeps you up at night as an employer is attracting and retaining the skilled workforce needed to meet demands.
You mentioned technology earlier. Will this help recruit and retain Gen Z?
Yes, it will absolutely help. Just as each generation leaves its fingerprints on advanced construction, the viewpoint of Gen Z, growing up with an iPhone in hand, will continue. And I think it’s going to bring ideas about how we can better optimize and be more efficient, not only in the workplace, but obviously in the back office.
Some of the other stuff, like drones and 3D imaging, probably wasn’t thought of for years in the build. As new people come in with new ideas and new expectations and new ways to move forward and grow the business and make it more efficient in the workplace, I see a much more open mindedness from these construction business owners to adopt this technology.
