Filling the Gap in Infrastructure Jobs

Building Georgia

Overview

Nationally, as many as 15 million new or maintained jobs may be needed to support the $1.2 trillion in new federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan infrastructure Law. In Georgia, it is estimated that 136,000 jobs will be needed to complete infrastructure projects.

The shortage is caused by a number of factors including the influx of new funding for projects, coupled with insufficient training and recruitment paths, aging workers nearing retirement, and large numbers of existing workers leaving their jobs and/or sectors altogether. There are 388,000 jobs that would need to be replaced or maintained due to retirements, career changes and normal demand over the next five years. An additional 43,000 IIJA-related jobs in metro Atlanta are needed each year, beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2026. 75% of infrastructure jobs would only need a high school diploma with some short-term training or six months to two-year training.

Building Georgia was launched in 2024 to foster collaboration between government agencies, the private sector, and the workforce training community to “close the gap” between the current levels of workforce employment in the infrastructure construction sector. The initiative will also address what is necessary for Georgia to successfully take advantage of funding opportunities provided by the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.