It's Personal.
Gild, Revitalizing the skilled trades for American Industry
In 2025 there are labor shortages across the U.S. that threaten the future of critical American infrastructure. From schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, and the places we live—the most important things being built in America are missing something crucial…the people to build them.
My dad, a carpenter by trade, immigrated from Poland to the U.S. at thirty and has worked as a general contractor ever since. Growing up, that meant I got to spend nearly a decade living on an active construction site while he built our house from the ground up (see cover photo). Working alongside him on jobs—paired with this unique upbringing, instilled in me an unwavering appreciation and respect not only for the things that we build, but for the men and women who build them.
The State of Skilled Labor in the U.S.
The largest problem in one of the most important U.S. industries, is filling open roles.
The Associated General Contractors of America say that nearly 80% of construction firms are having a hard time filling positions for craftsman.
7,000 new electricians are joining the industry each year, but 10,000 retire from it.
It’s estimated that the skilled labor shortage could amount to a $2.5 trillion loss for the American economy by 2028, if unaddressed.
The Good News
The zeitgeist has shifted. There’s a vibe shift underway…Forbes, WSJ, Fast Company, NPR and more have recently dubbed Gen-Z the “tool belt generation”.
Gen-Z is rethinking the economic value of traditional four-year degrees. Undergraduate enrollment fell from over 18 million in 2010 to under 15.5 million in 2021.
Enrollment in vocational-focused community colleges, grew 16% in 2023 to its highest level since the National Student Clearinghouse began tracking such data.
Expansion of registered apprenticeships, have led to a 64% growth in apprenticeship participation since 2012.
56% of people now believe that “blue-collar” jobs have more job security than “white-collar” desk jobs, given fear of AI/automation.
Increasing Demand: In the first half of 2023 alone there were more than 770,000 unique skilled trades job postings from nearly 95,000 employers. It is estimated that the construction sector alone will need to draw nearly 550,000 new workers to the field this year to meet the demand for labor.
The Technology Shift.
AI has enabled labor matching problems to be solved, at scale. Progress in vision, voice, agents, and LLMs broadly have opened the flood gates to solve labor market inefficiencies at the application layer.
Introducing Gild
Part One: Optimize
Recruiting in the trades is broken. Labor inefficiencies across industries remain a fundamental matching problem—optimization is needed. Workforce dynamics unique to the skilled trades makes this specific matching dilemma require a solution built wholly for the trades. Enter Gild.
From superintendents and foremen to technicians and apprentices, Gild provides end-to-end support for every role skilled trade businesses need. We supercharge recruiting for mechanical, HVAC, electrical, and other specialty trade contractors—empowering them to build a resilient workforce. Our goal? To solve the matching optimization problem, with software.
Part Two: Expand the Pie
We plan to make it so that more individuals have the opportunity to break into the trades. More on this soon.
Interested?
Gild is currently hiring a founding engineer and will be looking for other SWE, GTM, and Ops craftsmen/women to help build the future of the skilled trades soon.
If you too are energized about the idea of revitalizing the workforce of critical American industries reach out to tyler@getgild.com to learn more about what we are building. We’re backed by the great folks over at Afore Capital.
A fantastic mission. Best of luck.