Key Takeaways
- Lowe’s is committing $250 million over several years to expand training for electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and other skilled trades.
- The funds flow into programs like tuition-free training.
- CEO Marvin Ellison frames the trades as “even more important… in the near future,” arguing that hands-on roles are resilient to AI and automation.
As AI shakes up white-collar work, skilled trades are starting to look like the smarter bet for steady, high-paying work — and Lowe’s is leaning into that future.
The home improvement company recently told Fortune that its foundation plans to invest $250 million over the next decade to train 250,000 skilled trades professionals in the U.S. in fields such as plumbing, carpentry and electrical work. The money flows through the Lowe’s Foundation into community colleges and nonprofits, funding tuition-free training, credentials and modern equipment.
The company had previously committed more than $50 million to nonprofits and community college programs, but CEO Marvin Ellison said that evolving workforce dynamics have made higher investments in U.S. skilled-trade education even more critical and timely.
“We’re a company that believes strongly in the future of AI, but in a world where administrative and analytical occupations are going to be increasingly dominated with the acceleration of AI, we think the skilled trades initiative is going to be even more important here in the near future,” Ellison said.
He pointed out that AI has its limits — it can code, draft emails and crunch numbers, but it can’t show up to your door to fix a leaky pipe.
“As powerful as AI will become, AI can’t climb a ladder to change the batteries in your smoke detector,” Ellison said. “It can’t change your furnace filter; it can’t clean your dryer vent; it can’t repair a hole on your roof.”
The urgency for skilled trades is real; the U.S. is facing a serious labor shortage. The Associated Builders and Contractors projects that the U.S. will need about 350,000 more construction workers just to meet demand in 2026, and that shortfall could jump to 456,000 by 2027. Electricians, plumbers and carpenters are similarly all in short supply. Even though pay is climbing, the pipeline of new talent isn’t keeping up with demand.
Different paths to achieve the American dream
For Ellison, the changing workforce isn’t just a business issue — it’s personal. As he told Fortune, he grew up in Brownsville, Tennessee, a small town northeast of Memphis, where the message was always the same: go to college if you want to achieve the American dream. Yet he noted that in his community, some of the most admired individuals were tradespeople who had built successful businesses of their own.
Ellison followed the conventional wisdom, earning a business degree from the University of Memphis and an MBA from Emory University. His brother chose a different path, going to vocational school and building a career as a welder. Ellison told Fortune that for too long, jobs like his brother’s have been seen as second-tier compared to white-collar careers.
“There’s not that one option is better or worse; it’s all about that there are different paths to trying to obtain prosperity, and we all, me included, need to do a better job of presenting skilled trades as rewarding, viable careers, not just backup plans,” he told the outlet.
Trades are a means to “create meaningful wealth” and “earn a very dignified living” with “a lot less debt,” Ellison explained. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost to attend a four-year college is $38,270 per year, compared to the average cost of a trade school education, which works out to about $33,000 total.
“Don’t succumb to peer pressure that one career is better, more impressive, or more valuable than another,” Ellison said. “Choose your career path, not from pressure around what you think is the most valuable career or most prestigious, but choose it based on your natural interest and your skill set.”
Key Takeaways
- Lowe’s is committing $250 million over several years to expand training for electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and other skilled trades.
- The funds flow into programs like tuition-free training.
- CEO Marvin Ellison frames the trades as “even more important… in the near future,” arguing that hands-on roles are resilient to AI and automation.
As AI shakes up white-collar work, skilled trades are starting to look like the smarter bet for steady, high-paying work — and Lowe’s is leaning into that future.
The home improvement company recently told Fortune that its foundation plans to invest $250 million over the next decade to train 250,000 skilled trades professionals in the U.S. in fields such as plumbing, carpentry and electrical work. The money flows through the Lowe’s Foundation into community colleges and nonprofits, funding tuition-free training, credentials and modern equipment.
The company had previously committed more than $50 million to nonprofits and community college programs, but CEO Marvin Ellison said that evolving workforce dynamics have made higher investments in U.S. skilled-trade education even more critical and timely.
