LAS VEGAS — Nevada's skilled trades workforce has grown faster than all but four states over the past six years. A new national report ranks Nevada fifth in the country for skilled trades employment growth, with jobs up 12% from 2019 to 2025.
The report comes from the Alliance for America's Skilled Trades, a coalition formed this year by BlackRock, Carhartt, Ford Motor Company and Google, which more than a dozen other companies have since joined. Its growth figures are based on federal Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment data.
How Nevada compares
All five of the fastest-growing states are in the West. Nevada's neighbors Arizona, Utah and Idaho join it in the top five.
Rank | State | Growth, 2019–2025 |
|---|---|---|
1 | Arizona | 22.6% |
2 | Utah | 19.9% |
3 | Alaska | 16.8% |
4 | Idaho | 16.3% |
5 | Nevada | 12.0% |
6 | Alabama | 11.3% |
7 | Florida | 11.1% |
8 | Delaware | 10.9% |
9 | South Dakota | 10.7% |
10 | Tennessee | 10.4% |
Sixteen states lost skilled trades workers over the same period.
Nevada by the numbers
The report counts 179,120 skilled trades workers in Nevada. It also gives each state a demand pressure score, based on projected and actual demand, the mix of occupations and wage trends. Nevada scored 70, tied with Colorado and Mississippi for ninth of 51 and just behind Utah at 71. That puts Nevada in the upper tier for demand, though well below Arizona, which ranked second.
The report defines skilled trades broadly. It covers 124 occupations, including core building trades such as electricians, plumbers and pipefitters, carpenters, roofers and sheet metal workers, along with maintenance technicians, machinists, welders, transportation workers and engineering technicians.
A mixed signal on construction
The report's six-year growth figure covers all of those trades. Construction employment on its own has been bumpier.
In September 2025, FOX5 Las Vegas reported figures from the Associated General Contractors of America showing Nevada lost 7,100 construction jobs over the prior 12 months, including 4,400 from July to August 2025 alone. AGC chief economist Ken Simonson said most firms nationally were struggling to hire, and he called labor shortages the top cause of delayed construction projects in the group's survey. Nationally, AGC found that 92% of firms reported trouble filling open positions.
Not everyone saw it that way on the ground. Tommy White, secretary-treasurer of Laborers International Union of North America Local 872 in Las Vegas, told FOX5 he did not see a slowdown on Las Vegas Valley job sites and was not concerned about the state of local construction.
The two pictures are not necessarily in conflict. A strong six-year trend across many trades can coexist with a short-term dip in construction jobs, and neither number alone tells the full story of Nevada's labor market.
The apprenticeship pipeline
Nevada has built one of the larger apprenticeship systems in the region. As of April 2026, the state had 8,209 active registered apprentices, according to the State Apprenticeship Director's report to the Nevada State Apprenticeship Council. They train through 74 registered program sponsors and 760 active employers. Between February and April 2026, 222 apprentices earned completion certificates.
Nevada's apprentices are notably diverse. About 47% are Hispanic, and about 17% are women. Most, about two-thirds, are between 25 and 54, and nearly a third are 24 or younger.
FORGE Nevada
In August 2026, Nevada won a $1.54 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Labor's State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula Grant. The money funds FORGE Nevada, an initiative led by the Nevada State Apprenticeship Council and northern Nevada workforce board Nevadaworks.
The program aims to add 225 registered apprentices, support 300 pre-apprentices and apprentices, and create three new pre-apprenticeship programs and three new registered apprenticeship programs. Its target fields are advanced manufacturing, mineral production, education, hospitality and information technology, rather than construction.
State Apprenticeship Director Toni Giddens said registered apprenticeships give Nevadans a proven path to a career while helping employers build the workforce they need. Nevadaworks CEO Milt Stewart said the goal is to make apprenticeships easier for employers to use and more accessible to residents.
The national shortage
Nevada's growth comes against a national shortfall. The Alliance's report finds that training programs nationwide produce about 55 workers for every 100 that employers need. More than 18 million Americans work in the skilled trades, and the report projects about 1.7 million trades job openings every year through 2035.
What to watch
Nevada has a growing trades workforce, solid demand and a large apprenticeship system. The open question is construction itself: whether the 2025 job losses were a short dip or the start of a longer slowdown, and whether Nevada's apprenticeship pipeline keeps producing enough electricians, laborers and other tradespeople for the next wave of projects.