NEW YORK— BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, opened a $25 million nationwide grant competition on June 1 to help train electricians, mechanics, plumbers, and HVAC workers as employers across the country struggle to fill hundreds of thousands of skilled-trade jobs.

The reason is simple: America is running short of the very people it needs to build its future. The same artificial-intelligence boom that is threatening some office jobs cannot happen without people who work with their hands. Building a single AI data center takes armies of electricians to wire it and HVAC mechanics to keep the machines cool.

BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink has been blunt about the challenge. He has warned—including to officials in Washington—that the United States could simply run out of the electricians needed to build the data centers powering the AI revolution.

The numbers back him up. The trade group Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the country needs about 349,000 additional construction workers in 2026 just to keep up with demand, with even more needed next year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects roughly 81,000 electrician openings and 40,100 HVAC technician openings every year over the next decade. Many of those openings are being created because experienced workers are retiring faster than younger workers are entering the trades.

Hiring has become so difficult that staffing firm Randstad found it now takes about 56 days to fill an electrician or plumbing position—longer than it takes to hire many office workers.

That is the workforce gap BlackRock is trying to help close.

Its $25 million initiative is the next phase of a broader $100 million workforce effort known as Future Builders, operated through The BlackRock Foundation. The program will award grants ranging from $500,000 to $1 million to nonprofit organizations that provide hands-on training and career pathways into the skilled trades. The foundation hopes the initiative will help prepare 50,000 workers over the next five years.

“Skilled trades are essential to America,” said Arielle Gurman, who leads strategy for The BlackRock Foundation and oversees the Future Builders initiative. She said demand for trained workers continues to rise while too many people still lack access to quality training opportunities.

Applications opened June 1 and will remain open through July 10. A nonprofit workforce organization, Jobs for the Future, will help select grant recipients, with the first awards expected to be announced this fall.

The effort follows a separate $30 million BlackRock commitment in Texas announced last month that aims to train more than 12,000 workers for electrical and related skilled-trade careers.

BlackRock is not alone.

In April, Lowe’s announced a $250 million commitment through its foundation to help train 250,000 tradespeople by 2035. Chief Executive Marvin Ellison has repeatedly argued that while AI may transform many jobs, it cannot replace workers who install electrical systems, repair furnaces, or build homes.

Google has committed $15 million toward electrical workforce development programs. The Home Depot Foundation has pledged $10 million to support skilled-trade training. Television host Mike Rowe, best known for “Dirty Jobs,” is contributing another $10 million through his foundation to encourage more young people to pursue careers in the trades.

For workers, the economics are becoming increasingly attractive.

A fully trained electrician earns roughly $59.50 per hour, equivalent to more than $120,000 annually, often with strong benefits and without the burden of college debt. On some of the nation’s busiest AI data-center projects, electricians working significant overtime have reportedly earned between $240,000 and $280,000 per year.

For the first time in roughly half a century, government data shows that skilled-trade workers are now less likely to be unemployed than college graduates.

In the short term, $25 million will not eliminate a shortage measured in the hundreds of thousands. Skilled-trade training takes time, and the construction boom tied to AI, energy infrastructure, manufacturing, and housing is moving faster than training programs can produce workers.

But a larger shift is becoming clear. Some of the biggest names in finance, retail, and technology now view America’s shortage of mechanics, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians as a major economic challenge—and they are increasingly willing to spend their own money to address it.

JBizNews Desk — New York

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