Key Takeaways:
- AI Shake-Up: Mike Rowe says coders aren’t safe—AI is coming for them.
- Trades Thrive: Demand for welders, plumbers, and electricians is skyrocketing.
- Urgent Gap: Construction needs 439K new workers in 2025—or costs will explode.
Mike Rowe, CEO of the MikeRoweWorks Foundation and host of How America Works on FOX Business, has a blunt message for anyone banking on tech careers to stay safe: Think again.
“We’ve been telling kids for 15 years to code. ‘Learn to code,’ we said,” Rowe told attendees at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit on Tuesday. “Yeah, well, AI is coming for the coders.”
Rowe wasn’t done. While tech jobs face disruption, trade-based careers remain rock-solid. “Technology, however, isn’t coming for the welders… the plumbers, the steamfitters or the pipefitters… the electricians,” he said.
That’s not just tough talk—it’s economics. America’s skilled labor market is shrinking as older workers retire and too few young people enter the trades. McKinsey projects demand will surge thanks to infrastructure upgrades, energy projects, and real estate redevelopment. Meanwhile, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) estimates construction alone will need 439,000 new workers in 2025 and 499,000 in 2026.
Fail to fill those roles? Expect soaring labor costs and fewer viable projects, warns ABC economist Anirban Basu.
Rowe has long sounded the alarm: “Every year, for every five tradespeople who retire, two people replace them… You can’t find a single major corporation today who relies on skilled labor [that] isn’t struggling to hire.”
Bottom line? AI might out-code you, but it can’t unclog a drain. For young Americans, the trades aren’t just a safe bet—they’re a gold mine.