How to Use Technology as a Talent Magnet in the Construction Industry

The construction industry is confronting dual challenges: a graying workforce and declining interest among younger generations. Bridging this talent gap requires more than pay incentives—it demands a reimagined role for technology in the day-to-day work of trades. Tools like drones, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning, robotics, and spatial awareness platforms can reshape the career image, making construction feel more like digital craftwork than manual labor.

By elevating on-site roles through tech, you can attract individuals who grew up in digital environments—gamers, modelers, drone enthusiasts—and retain them with safer, smarter workflows. Below is an excerpt that illustrates both the challenge and the opportunity through the voice of industry leaders and technology strategists.

As reported in How Technology Could Bring Younger Generations to Construction Work on Roads & Bridges:

“The average age in the construction sector is currently 42.5 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2017, about 70% of construction firms reported facing difficulties in hiring.

This may be due in part by a lack of interest from younger generations: only 3% of young adults expressed interest in construction trades in a National Association of Home Builders poll.

Roads & Bridges spoke with Cameron Clark, the earthmoving industry director at Trimble, about potential technology-driven solutions. What follows is part of their conversation.

Roads & Bridges: There is a lack of younger generations entering the construction industry. Could you give us a high-level view of this problem and how it’s shifted in recent times?

Cameron Clark: Skilled labor shortages are a real problem out there. I call it part of the construction dilemma. We’ve got a lot of construction demands with new infrastructure and we are also working with servicing the existing infrastructure that’s aging.

We’ve got experienced workers retiring. The construction industry for a number of years hasn’t been something that people are pushed into. ‘You’ve got to go to college, don’t go into construction, it’s mundane, you’re standing outside.’

Technology is really changing that. With the journey to autonomy that I see, technology is at the forefront of changing construction totally. The construction worker of yesterday versus today and tomorrow is totally different. It’s very exciting, changing that whole mindset around construction and the opportunities and career development you can have.”

Continue reading “How Technology Could Bring Younger Generations to Construction Work” on Roads & Bridges.

Why It Matters to You

TechEDGE readers in the infrastructure, industrial, and built-environment sectors face the same looming shortage of skilled labor as aviation, energy, and manufacturing. Recasting trades as tech-enabled careers—not fallback options—will be critical to maintaining capacity and innovation across capital-intensive domains. Modernizing field crews' toolset is not just a retention play; it’s also a talent-attraction lever.

Moreover, what works in construction often echoes in other sectors. Spatial scanning, remote operation, AR-guided workflows, and drone oversight are already being adopted by utilities, smart cities, and maintenance operations. By investing in a construction tech branding strategy now, you prepare your future project pipelines, workforce, and technological culture for decades ahead. 

Next Steps

• Human Resources/Talent Strategy: Craft marketing assets and outreach campaigns framing construction roles as modern, design-infused, tech-enabled careers. 
• Ops/Field Leaders: Pilot deployment of spatial capture (such as LiDAR or drones) and AR-based tools at one worksite to boost productivity and test retention effects. 
• Technology/Engineering Teams: Integrate site-sensor, drone, and modeling systems into your build and maintenance pipelines. 
• Safety/Compliance: Embed proximity alerts, zone restrictions, and remote oversight tools to reduce risk and improve worker experience. 
• Executive/Strategy: Forecast workforce gaps five years ahead, link tech-enabled hiring posture to project capacity planning, and allocate capital to tool-forward field programs.