Georgia’s construction workforce hit a record-high 237,500 jobs in January 2026, according to the Georgia Department of Labor — up 5,700 (2.5%) from 2025.
It’s good news. But in light of the well-documented shortage of construction workers, it’s not good enough. Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) puts the nationwide shortfall at about 349,000 workers in 2026. Based on the size of Georgia’s workforce, its share of that shortfall is somewhere between 10,000-12,000.
While Georgia’s construction pipeline continues to outrun the number of skilled tradespeople available to staff it, apprenticeship programs in the trades are turning out more and more new workers every year — mostly in and around Atlanta. It’s not enough to overcome the labor shortage on its own, but it’s making a good dent.
Registered apprenticeship as a model — a structured, industry-approved program that delivers a paid job with meaningful training and credentials — is having a genuine growth moment across the United States.
Across the nation in 2025, such construction programs had about 324,000 participants enrolled, and 40,000 completed their training, according to ABC data reported by Contractor Magazine.
More than 90% of the programs nationwide are non-union, and enrollment in these programs has grown 60% over the past five years. Union apprenticeship programs only account for 7% of the total, according to Contractor Magazine. These have grown 21 percent over the last five years.
Georgia’s registered apprenticeship system across all trades has been growing at an annual clip of 6.3% since 2020 — faster than the nationwide average of 5.1%. The state has 11,808 active apprentices, of which 9,339 (79%) are working in the construction trades, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Apprentices by State dashboard.
That means Georgia’s construction industry is now training more apprentices today than all of the state’s industries combined in 2020.
Fulton and Gwinnett counties claim 5,422 (68%) of Georgia’s construction apprentices — meaning that the largest number of apprenticeships are located in the same two counties that are absorbing the bulk of metro Atlanta’s data center, industrial and multifamily construction pipeline.
That’s not just a happy coincidence. It’s the result of a concerted effort to build these training programs in a way that produces tradespeople where the jobs are.
The Georgia Building Trades Academy (GABTA) in downtown Atlanta works with the federal YouthBuild program to prepare disadvantaged participants, ages 16 to 24, for entry into registered apprenticeships. It’s supported by the Atlanta & North Georgia Building Trades Council and at least 19 area construction unions.
Before anyone enters a specific trade apprenticeship, the Academy runs them through a multi-craft core curriculum, OSHA safety certification, welding fundamentals, forklift certification and GED support. Contractors and union locals inherit workers who already have safety credentials and basic trade exposure.
Other metro-area programs that provide preparation or support for construction-related apprenticeships include:
What It Means for Contractors
For Metro Atlanta contractors and builders, the practical takeaway is to plug into that pipeline. Sponsoring or partnering with Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committees (JATC) that manage registered programs connects you to workers who are already trained to a baseline standard rather than starting from zero.
Even a small contractor can often take on an apprentice through an affiliated union local without building a training program from scratch. And support of these programs does more than bring qualified trainees to your door. It also helps to retain tradespeople who see you investing in the next generation, and it may score some points in the bidding process for work.
So while Atlanta’s building trades haven’t solved the chronic labor crunch, they’ve made it less severe — and seem to be getting better at it every year.
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