Walk into any construction site in America and you’ll hear the same story: we can’t find enough skilled workers. There is a dangerous shortage of electricians, welders, HVAC technicians, plumbers and heavy equipment operators, and the gap is widening.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently warned that building America’s artificial intelligence infrastructure will require an army of electricians. Demand for data centers – both cloud and AI – is expected to double year on year. Mike Rowe has been sounding the alarm for years: the most ‘essential’ jobs are the jobs that our culture no longer celebrates.
Here’s the truth: Without skilled professionals, America will grind to a halt. No power. No housing. No data centers. No cloud. No AI.
Welder Cedric Smith from the documentary ‘Skilled’. (Photo courtesy of 3M)
Yet we continue to push young people toward four-year degrees, often leaving them with six-figure debt burdens, while treating trading as a second-tier option. Meanwhile, a “silver tsunami” is coming as baby boomers and Gen X traders retire faster than replacements enter the field.
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According to Rewiring America, we need 1 million additional electricians over the next decade, on top of the current workforce of approximately 800,000.
Not emphasizing and encouraging skilled work is not just a cultural mistake. It is an economic time bomb.
Redressing the Imbalance: Use the Tax Code
The quickest and fairest way to change course is through the tax code.
Here’s our proposal: Create aggressive tax breaks for the traders themselves, not just the companies that employ them.
If you choose to become an electrician, welder or plumber, you should enjoy the same level of government support as college graduates.
- Allow traders to deduct the full cost of their tools, certifications and training.
- Provide meaningful federal tax benefits – or even temporary income tax exemptions – for each year they remain actively employed in a certified industry.
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If we can make tips tax-free for service industry workers, we can certainly extend that logic to the men and women who are literally rebuilding America’s infrastructure. And frankly, it’s absurd that our active duty service members or full-time first responders pay federal income taxes at all.
Do you want to attract a new generation to these professions? Encourage the behaviors that support the backbone of the nation.
By their late 20s, these traders could be debt-free, earning solid middle- to upper-class wages, buying homes and raising families; not just chasing the American Dream, but rebuilding it.
Compare that to many college students today: burdened with debt, underemployed, and watching automation threaten their jobs.
We must reward the work on which America’s future depends—and not lead children down a path that may not exist in a decade.
This is also about national security
This is not just an economic issue, it is a national security issue.
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The Pentagon is already warning of labor shortages in shipbuilding and mission-critical infrastructure. Data centers – the central nervous system of AI and national defense – are desperate for electricians and refrigeration technicians.
Without a robust pipeline of skilled traders, our ability to compete with China in the AI race will collapse before it begins.
Our national security is as dependent on America’s welder and HVAC technology as it is on the fighter pilot. It’s time for our policies to reflect that truth.
This is not a subsidy, it is an investment
Critics will call this a giveaway. They’re wrong.
Tax breaks aren’t handouts, they’re investments in the backbone of America, in the men and women who keep the lights on, the water running, and the servers cool.
If Washington can pour billions into green energy dreams and Ivy League programs that produce vulnerable, perpetually offended college graduates, then surely it can afford tax cuts for the Americans who actually build, wire, and power this country.
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The conservative answer is clear: reward hard work, build self-reliance and restore the dignity of the profession.
Congress must act now
Year after year, calls for reform in Washington have fallen on deaf ears, especially among Democrats who are more interested in partisan shutdown theater than solving the real problems facing working Americans. It’s time to stop putting politics over people and start rebuilding the middle class that keeps this country running.
The conference can start with:
- Creating aggressive tax breaks for individual traders tied to accredited training and continued employment.
- Allow full deductions for tools, certifications and licensing fees.
- Offering bonus incentives for those who stay in the field for 10, 15 or 20 years to maintain mission-critical expertise.
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This is simple, fair and fiscally sound. The alternative is to watch as American growth and resilience grind to a halt.
Now more than ever, America’s prosperity and security depend on trade. Let’s start treating professionals with the respect they have earned.
CLICK HERE TO BY MIKE SARRAILLE
CLICK HERE TO BY KIRK OFFEL
Kirk Offel is a Navy submarine veteran and the CEO of Overwatch Mission Critical, a Texas-based talent incubator that trains and hires future leaders for highly skilled jobs in the data center industry.
