In 1978 Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson topped music charts with their classic, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys.” The memorable tune urged parents to keep their children focused on becoming doctors and lawyers, while avoiding careers that might have them “drive dirty old trucks.” More than 40 years later, the duo’s words and the societal stigma developed around jobs requiring “getting your hands dirty” still echoes at kitchen tables across the country. 

The chief challenge for building a larger workforce pipeline for the construction industry is battling negative perceptions. For far too long, the idea that parents should encourage their children to strive for a college degree and white-collar jobs only – and consider careers short of those as a letdown, has taken hold of the collective consciousness. 

Given the starting compensation, ease of entry and immediate availability of well over 155,000 construction industry jobs in Arizona alone by 2021, the American Subcontractors Association of Arizona, Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation, Arizona Department of Economic Security, and elected policymakers across the state, are working hard to dispel these notions.  

The construction industry offers a solid entry point for people looking to build a career. With minimal training and certifications, and zero college debt, people can start a career in construction trades by turning a wrench and earning their way to the top, ending their career as construction executives or owners of their own companies.  

]An entry-level construction-trade job can provide steady work and a fruitful career. More importantly, in Arizona, the average starting wage in the industry is $49,000 per year, with some positions paying into the six figures. For perspective, this is higher than our state’s average salary across all industries. Construction jobs represent more than just a wage, they represent opportunity.   

With industry partners such as Brewer Companies, Arizona’s largest plumbing contractor, Sundt Construction, and Lennar Homes, we are bringing the business community, educators and government together to collaborate on a multi-pronged solution to Arizona’s construction trade workforce crisis. 

Our approach involves: 

• Realigning community perspectives of construction trades. Many of these positions require highly skilled people (who can learn on the job) and are highly paid, given that their specialized skills are in high demand. To put it succinctly, many of today’s construction industry employees are highly sought-after community contributors. And that’s how we should be referring to/advocating for them. 

• Increasing access and awareness of high–quality training opportunities. Whether it’s Career Technical Education Districts (CTEDs) across Arizona or industry leaders collaborating with our high-quality community colleges located across the state, or Registered Apprenticeship programs, we are working to expand the number of well-developed training programs for prospective tradesmen and tradeswomen across the spectrum. Arizona’s registered apprenticeship programs, for example, allow novice workers to earn an internationally-recognized certification after earning an income; all while being trained on-the-job by experts in their field. Furthermore, apprenticeship graduates earn an average starting annual salary of $60,000 because of their newfound skillset.  

• Launching Build Your Future Arizona. Later this fall, the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation will launch a career awareness campaign for the construction trades. Supported by the construction industry, this three-year campaign will promote the high-wage, rewarding careers available in the construction trades. 

The work that organizations have already done in this space has yielded valuable insights on how our community should support this effort.    

First, developing a sufficient supply of qualified talent requires multiple strategies in order to be successful. 

Second, we need to increase awareness of the benefits of construction careers to challenge the negative stigma associated with these positions. 

Third, our business community has a strong responsibility to support our schools, especially those specializing in career and technical education (CTE), ensuring they have the most up-to-date equipment and qualified teachers to inspire students. Meeting these needs requires engagement and strong support from employers.  

While Waylon and Willie’s song may have struck a chord back in the late 1970s, times have changed during the four decades since, yet the sentiment stubbornly remains. While still requiring hard work, the skills needed for the construction industry careers of today run the gamut. And the majority of those careers enable employees to provide for themselves and their families. Opportunities for advancement and are open right now. 

We believe that Waylon and Willie would encourage the moms of today to tell their children to grow up to be plumbers, carpenters, and construction trade business owners. Fortunately, through collaboration between the American Subcontractors Association of Arizona, the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation, and policymakers across Arizona, Arizona’s construction industry offers an immediate path to prosperity. We encourage you to join us in promoting the thousands of these jobs available right now.  

About the authors: 

• Mike Brewer is President of the American Subcontractors Association of Arizona and CEO of Brewer Companies & Benjamin Franklin Plumbing-Phoenix. He may be reached at mike.brewer@brewercompanies.com.  
• Todd Sanders is President and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Chamber. 
• Karen Fann is President of the Arizona State Senate. 
• Mike Trailor is Director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security.