• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Commentary

What Trump Is Missing In His $1 Trillion Infrastructure Pitch

By
Rick Wartzman
Rick Wartzman
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Rick Wartzman
Rick Wartzman
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 2, 2017, 11:04 AM ET
Photograph by Boston Globe via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

What if the government tried to roll out a $1 trillion worth of building projects and nobody came?

Well, not nobody. But far fewer well-trained workers than will be necessary to replace the nation’s “crumbling infrastructure” with “new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, and railways gleaming across our beautiful land,” as President Trump put it in his address to Congress on Tuesday night.

The problem is that while the administration is talking up this massive boom in construction over the next decade—likely financed in part through tax credits for the private sector—it is threatening to undercut the supply of labor that will be needed to make it happen.

Details of the president’s agenda are currently murky. But already, there seems to be a basic disconnect between Trump’s call for a New Deal-style investment in infrastructure and a budget that foresees major reductions in nondefense discretionary spending. In particular, such a blueprint doesn’t bode well for community colleges and their students, who will be absolutely essential to ensuring that enough wrenches get turned in the coming years if Trump’s grand vision has any chance of becoming a reality.

“Across the country,” the Aspen Institute noted in a 2013 report, “community colleges are weaving employment-related outcomes into their missions” and “are positioned to serve as a reliable source of trained workers.”

Even now, there are kinks in the system. Conor Sen, a portfolio manager at New River Investments, figures that some 570,000 construction workers will have to be added to the nation’s labor pool each year for the Trump infrastructure plan to succeed—a level of demand that can’t possibly be met given today’s tight job market (and that won’t be helped by a White House bent on removing undocumented immigrants, many of whom work in the field).

Indeed, for the past seven years, according to ManpowerGroup, the hardest jobs to fill in the United States have been in the “skilled trades”—electricians, carpenters, welders, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, masons, and others. The second hardest jobs to fill in 2016 were drivers, including those hauling heavy equipment and working on construction sites.

One big reason for this gap, employers maintain, is that they can’t find satisfactory numbers of people with the expertise to do the work.

Much of this is self-inflicted. “Companies simply haven’t invested much in training their workers,” the University of Pennsylvania’s Peter Cappelli, has pointed out.

Some suggest that employers have become so hard-pressed of late to find employees with adequate skills, they may finally be starting to step up; nearly half last year had implemented programs to develop their existing staffs, ManpowerGroup’s surveying shows, a huge jump from just 12% in 2015.

But even if this is the case, there is no doubt that community colleges—often operating in partnership with business—remain a key piece of the puzzle. By one estimate, about a third of the new infrastructure jobs that Trump promises to create will require a postsecondary vocational certificate or an associate’s degree.

The question is whether there will be sufficient support for the institutions offering these courses and the people wanting to take them. Leaders in higher education are concerned, for instance, that Pell Grants for low-income students—which community college attendees heavily rely upon—stand to be slashed by Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress.

Under President Obama, the federal government awarded $2 billion to hundreds of community colleges so that they could boost their capacity for workforce training—a substantial infusion praised by many for its effectiveness. In Washington today, with the Departments of Labor and Education poised to be made significantly smaller, it’s tough to picture anything like that being funded.

The Trump campaign was also sour on Obama’s proposal to make community college available to everyone at no cost, an effort that has since fizzled. (Several states and at least one city, San Francisco, have moved on their own to make community college tuition-free.)

None of this is to say that devoting more public dollars to community colleges will, in and of itself, produce all of the trained workers that America could use. Industry must continue to do more—much more—as well.

But as the specifics of Trump’s infrastructure initiative emerge in the coming months—and Congress weighs in to give these plans their final shape—a test of their seriousness will be this: Do they recognize that the most important pipeline to be built in America is the one for talent?

Rick Wartzman is senior advisor to the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University. He is also author of the forthcoming book, The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America, due next spring.

About the Author
By Rick Wartzman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

t
CommentaryMedia
Netflix could turn NBC into its biggest bet yet — and this time, the math actually works
By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven TianJune 30, 2026
16 hours ago
wb
CommentaryLeadership
I grew BDO from $600 million to $3.4 billion. Here’s the 3-part formula that made it possible
By Wayne BersonJune 30, 2026
20 hours ago
vinod
CommentaryData centers
Vinod Khosla: AI’s energy crisis has a fix — and it doesn’t need the grid
By Vinod KhoslaJune 30, 2026
20 hours ago
marc
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here’s why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
21 hours ago
mcmaster
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
Boston Dynamics CEO: America’s next 250 years will be built by robots. Here’s what’s standing in the way
By Amanda McMasterJune 30, 2026
22 hours ago
ac
Commentaryclimate change
Top climate tech exec: Europe is sweating through a heat crisis America solved decades ago
By Taco EngelaarJune 30, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
6 days ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
'Humanity has chosen to become idiots': This Brown professor switched to take-home exams after a mass shooting and discovered mass cheating
AI
'Humanity has chosen to become idiots': This Brown professor switched to take-home exams after a mass shooting and discovered mass cheating
By Catherina GioinoJune 29, 2026
1 day ago
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
Commentary
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
21 hours ago
The retired college professor fighting a $313 trespassing ticket in Wisconsin thinks he's part of a national struggle
Environment
The retired college professor fighting a $313 trespassing ticket in Wisconsin thinks he's part of a national struggle
By Catherina GioinoJune 28, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.