{"id":10404,"date":"2026-04-09T03:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T03:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=10404"},"modified":"2026-04-09T03:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T03:35:26","slug":"lowes-is-spending-250-million-to-train-blue-collar-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=10404","title":{"rendered":"Lowe’s is spending $250 million to train blue-collar workers"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Lowe\u2019s Foundation is making a major investment in future skilled tradesworkers. On Tuesday, the home improvement retailer announced it would commit<\/a> an additional $200 million to training 250,000 tradespeople by 2035 through its Gable Grants program, bringing its overall commitment to $250 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The investment comes amid a rising need for skilled tradespeople driven by a surge in AI developments. According to Jones Lang LaSalle\u2019s 2026 Global Data Center Outlook report,<\/a> the global data center sector is expanding by about 14% a year. Over the next four years, nearly 100 gigawatts of capacity will be added, which will require a $3 trillion investment.<\/p>\n

At the same time, we\u2019re seeing a massive wave of retirements in the trades, which is set to continue. One recent report<\/a> found that by 2030, around 1.4 million blue-collar jobs will be open across seven fields. Already, construction companies are overwhelmingly reporting that they\u2019re struggling to find enough skilled workers to meet demand. According to a 2025 Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) report<\/a>, which analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the construction industry needs to bring in an estimated 499,000 workers this year to meet demand.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time Lowe\u2019s has invested in the trades. In 2023, the brand announced a $50 million commitment<\/a> over five years. At the time, it said it was focused on addressing \u201cone of the most critical worker shortages\u201d in history, explaining that around 546,000 new tradespeople were needed to meet demand that year.<\/p>\n

Now, the brand is building on the program. \u201cAmerican prosperity is at stake, and we are partnering to solve the workforce gap with a growing force of educators, employers, and policymakers who understand local needs,\u201d Marvin Ellison, Lowe\u2019s chairman and CEO and co-champion of the Business Roundtable \u201cSkilled Trades for America\u201d initiative, said in the announcement. He continued: \u201cNo single organization can do this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lowe\u2019s said it would aim to reach 250,000 people over the next decade by expanding partnerships with community colleges and nonprofits and by working with organizations that connect students with employers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lowe\u2019s is\u00a0not the only company to invest in training blue-collar workers. Earlier this month, BlackRock, the world\u2019s largest asset manager, said it would commit $100 million in training tradesworkers to support a growing infrastructure demand. At the time, Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, said: \u201cAmerica needs an estimated $10 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2033 to modernize aging systems and build new energy, digital, and AI infrastructure.\u201d He added: \u201cCapital alone is not enough\u2014people are central to building our nation\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Lowe\u2019s Foundation is making a major investment in future skilled tradesworkers. On Tuesday, the home improvement retailer announced it would commit an additional $200 million to training 250,000 tradespeople by 2035 through its Gable Grants program, bringing its overall commitment to $250 million. The investment comes amid a rising need for skilled tradespeople driven by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brand-spotlights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}