This Week in Trades - June 22, 2026

Meta Will Spend $115 Million to Train Data Center Tradespeople

$115 million. Meta is putting $115 million this year into a new program, America's Workforce Academy, to train the trades that build and run data centers. The training is free. It covers tuition, housing, and a daily stipend, and it ends with a guaranteed job. The course runs five weeks. No experience is required.

Meta's own words name the target: "America needs hundreds of thousands of skilled tradespeople: electricians, mechanics, fiber technicians, and more." The company is building toward $600 billion in U.S. data center spending by 2028, and it operates or is building 27 data centers. The academy launches in Baton Rouge, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Houston.

For electricians, this is money chasing the same shortage you already feel on the job. Data centers need switchgear, feeders, and power distribution wired by licensed hands. Meta is not alone. BlackRock is spending $100 million to train 50,000 electricians, plumbers, and HVAC techs over five years. The demand signal is loud, and it is commercial.

Source: Fortune

Construction Materials Prices Jumped 2.6% in May

2.6%. Construction input prices rose 2.6% in May from April, and they are now up 9.6% from a year ago, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of federal data. Nonresidential input prices climbed even faster, up 9.7% year over year.

That is the cost of the wire, conduit, breakers, and gear that go into every job. When materials run nearly 10% higher than last year, fixed-price bids written months ago get squeezed, and the squeeze lands on the contractor.

For electricians, two things follow. First, copper-heavy work is exposed. Tariffs on metals are still in place, and they feed straight into wire and cable prices. Second, estimators have to build escalation into every bid or eat the difference. If you quote a panel upgrade today and buy the parts in September, the price you locked may not hold.

Material costs are not slowing down. Plan for higher numbers on your next several jobs, and price the risk in.

Source: Associated Builders and Contractors

Housing Starts Fell to a Five-Year Low in May

1.18 million. New housing starts dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.18 million in May, down 15.4% from April and the slowest pace since 2020, according to the Census Bureau. The fall was almost all on the multifamily side. Single-family starts held nearly flat at 882,000, down just 1.9% from April.

So the apartment pipeline is shrinking fast while single-family homes hold steady. Higher interest rates and tight lending are stalling big multifamily projects. Houses are still getting built at close to last month's pace.

For electricians, the split matters. Residential rough-ins, service work, and new single-family wiring are about as busy as a month ago. The pullback is in large apartment and condo jobs, which means fewer of the big multifamily contracts that keep a crew loaded for months. If your work leans residential, watch the project mix and lean toward single-family and service calls.

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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