Future Forward: Workforce Shortage: It’s Not a Mystery—It’s Math

In a time when attention is pulled in many directions, one critical issue often goes under the radar. Talk to colleagues across sectors, and you’ll hear a consistent message: the skilled workforce is shrinking, the pipeline is tightening and the impact is already showing up in our economy.

As director of workforce development with the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), I hear every day from our firm and industry leaders who are sounding the workforce-shortage alarm with increasing volume. They know better than anyone that the shortage is a strategic threat. It’s infrastructure projects that stall because the expertise simply isn’t there, it’s roles that stay open and teams that run lean. The message we hear from the C-suite is remarkably consistent: innovation is hitting a human-capital ceiling. We talk about the AI revolution as if it’s inevitable—it isn’t. It will only go as far as the engineering beneath it.

Myriad Problems

This shortage isn’t just about unfilled jobs. It’s about our national capacity slipping behind our global rivals. Firms with the capital to expand can’t find the talent to execute. State governments with federal infrastructure dollars in hand can’t hire the engineers needed to spend it. Even the tech sector—long the magnet for top-tier talent—is quietly acknowledging that the bench isn’t as deep as it once was.

Our country once treated engineering excellence as a birthright, and now we’re recognizing that it’s not a guarantee—it’s a choice. And the uncomfortable truth is that the world isn’t waiting for the United States to solve our workforce problem. Without a dramatic shift, we risk losing our edge in fields we once dominated without question.

The workforce challenge comes into sharp focus when you look at the numbers. Between 2013 and 2022, the U.S. college-age population shrank by 3.3 percent. At the same time, Baby Boomers—21 percent of the population—are heading for retirement in massive numbers. The number of engineering graduates hit its peak in 2019 at about 214,000. Since then, that number has dropped more than 10,000, with civil, mechanical and electrical engineering particularly hard hit (according to “The Workforce of the Future” study released by the ACEC Research Institute in October 2025). Year after year, the exits exceed the entrances. It’s not a mystery—it’s math.

Deserving Recognition

Now in its 75th year, National Engineers Week (scheduled February 22-28) is celebrating its diamond anniversary at a critical moment for our industry. For us at ACEC, every week is Engineers Week. The work we do every day is about telling the story of engineering and spotlighting its essential role in our nation’s prosperity and progress. But Engineers Week is an opportunity to broaden the playing field even further. It’s a moment that asks us to pause as a nation and recognize the talented and dedicated professionals who design the systems and structures that make modern life possible.

But it’s also a reminder that recognition isn’t enough. Engineers Week is a catalyst for the type of perspective that can be lost in a political environment where long-term planning often is sacrificed for short-term wins. There’s broad agreement on both sides of the aisle that STEM education needs attention, our immigration policies are outdated, and workforce development is overdue for modernization. But agreement isn’t a substitute for action.

Our workforce shortage doesn’t come with dramatic visuals or easy explanations, which makes it easier to overlook. But I see its effects every day. Engineers build the foundation this country moves on—from the roads and bridges we rely on to the systems that keep our communities running. When that workforce shrinks, it touches everything.

That means we have our work cut out for us—as a council, as an industry and as a country—and I’m OK with that. I often say I have the best job in the world: I get to talk about the incredible work engineers do. I get to meet bright, committed people and encourage them to choose engineering as their life’s work—and to keep choosing it, day after day.

This article originally appeared in Informed Infrastructure.