Skilled trades jobs offer real opportunities, to be highlighted during National Careers in Trades Week

National Careers in Trades Week (NCIT), which takes place April 6-10, 2026, comes at an opportune time for people seeking skilled trades jobs: rewarding, essential careers with excellent pay and strong benefits, including healthcare and pensions. While United States workers are experiencing a stagnant job market with fewer job postings and positions that are harder to secure, well-paying skilled trade job openings look set to grow in the near future.

“There is a lot that has changed about our country over the years: technology, artificial intelligence, you name it. But one thing that won’t ever change is this simple fact: We need skilled trades workers to build our country,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “SMART members are doing that from coast to coast, whether building new hospitals, ensuring air quality in schools or making sure apartment and office buildings run as efficiently as possible. We’re excited to shine a light on the many career paths available to workers in our industry during National Careers in Trades Week — and well beyond.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), professions in the skilled trades will experience faster-than-average job growth between 2024 and 2034, with the Occupational Outlook predicting over 600,000 construction job openings each year and a current median annual wage of $58,000 (up from $55,000 in 2025). Median pay is even higher for full-time construction workers who are union members, who have a median wage that is $23,556 higher per year compared with full-time nonunion construction workers (based on BLS median weekly earnings data).

Additionally, apprenticeships in the skilled trades, like those at SMART local unions, provide the opportunity to earn while learning and enter the workforce without debt — an especially relevant piece of information for young people and their parents.

New research conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of SMACNA shows that 75% of teens aged 13-18 would consider a trade job over going to college. The most compelling reasons for teens opting for a trade over college are higher pay, good benefits and paid apprenticeships, cited by 30% of teens. Other considerations that would sway a teen to the trades include opportunity to be promoted (24%), knowing a job is vital to the economy (21%) and the number of available trade positions growing faster than the average job (19%).

“Skilled professions offer rewarding career opportunities for all people, including young adults, women, veterans and anyone who is looking for a career change,” said SMACNA CEO Frank Wall. “The wages and job security that trade careers offer provide a faster means to home ownership, upward mobility and saving for retirement that other pathways don’t always ensure.”

In addition to the SMART, SMACNA and International Training Institute (ITI), who led the initiative in 2025, other trade groups have joined National Careers in Trades Week to build awareness for all they have to offer and how their disciplines leave lasting legacies on society. These include the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), National Energy Management Institute (NEMI), the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and the Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT).

Throughout National Careers in Trades Week, cross-industry visibility efforts will showcase the benefits of choosing careers in the skilled trades among job seekers and the American public. The goal is to fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are essential to national and global economies and infrastructure projects, including, for example, the construction of chip plants, stadiums, healthcare facilities, factories and data centers.

SMART sheet metal members — whether they’re HVAC technicians, industrial welders, architectural sheet metal workers, testing, adjusting and balancing specialists, or in one of the many other professions the sheet metal trade encompasses — know well the many perks of a career in our union and our industry. As we continue to build North America, our union will work to make sure Americans and Canadians know about those opportunities as well.

That’s how we secure the future for our trade, our industry and our union.

The 2026 research was conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of the SMACNA among 500 U.S. parents of kids currently enrolled in high school or college between January 13-21, 2026, using an email invitation and an online survey.