/ Company

Celebrating National Trades Day: How Procore is Helping Lay the Foundation for New Skills

Each year, the third Friday of September is National Trades Day. Now in its eleventh year, National Trades Day was founded to honor the people in the field, behind the tools, building the world around us.

Construction tradespeople are the men and women responsible for building our nation and maintaining its infrastructure. Tradespeople are those that touch every single one of our lives every day - they build the schools where our kids learn, the hospitals where we are provided care and the homes where we raise our families. Unfortunately, many do not view construction as an aspirational career.

In more recent times, the skilled labor shortage has become one of the most persistent issues facing the industry. According to the Associated Builders and Contractors, construction needs to attract nearly 650,000 additional workers on top of the normal pace of hiring in 2022 to meet the demand for labor. As the field continues to evolve, so do the job requirements, and not only finding a new generation of workers—but a new generation of skilled workers—proves to be a growing challenge.

How We’re Supporting the Industry

Our vision is to improve the lives of everyone in construction. That means not only supplying current construction professionals the technology to streamline and ease their workload, but also supporting those training new recruits and skilled tradespeople as well.

At Procore, we’re proud to support those doing the important work of recruiting, training, and advancing our workforce. Through Procore.org, our in-house social impact team, we’ve partnered with trade associations around the country, providing in-person training for their instructors. To date, 137 trade associations and apprentice centers are using Procore in their curriculum. Additionally, over 68,000 trade apprentices and journeypersons have been trained on Procore.  

The Procore.org team recently hosted a “Mobile Technology in the Field'' class during a week-long instructor training program hosted by The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA). During the class, Procore.org leveraged the Procore BIM tool to turn a punch walk into a scavenger hunt to demonstrate how construction technology can help bridge the gap between the office and the field.

Beyond preparing the field, we also donate free access to our platform to the universities educating the next generation of builders and nonprofits rebuilding our communities.  Our Workforce Development page allows us to share resources with construction professionals, educators, parents, and students alike. Acting as a central hub for all things workforce management, the page features additional education courses, career opportunities, resources on diversity, inclusion and belonging, Procore skills certifications, regional trade association information, and much more.  

By granting access to Procore’s software, certifications and in-person as well as virtual classroom training, it is our goal to uplevel the skills of the new and existing construction workforce, addressing the challenges of the labor shortage head-on.

Looking Forward

We recently launched our Trades 101 course, a new three-part educational series that teaches learners about the fundamentals of the industry, the dynamic, instrumental roles within the building process, and how to navigate the journey from apprentice to established tradesperson. Throughout the course, industry experts will walk through the vital role trades play throughout the construction project lifecycle, as well as the variety of trade apprenticeship programs available to those interested in pursuing a career in the industry.

Register now to gain new knowledge and earn Procore Continuing Education Credit today.