Blue Collar Workers Are Making a Comeback. Here’s What Is Driving It.

The United States is in the middle of an industrial expansion at a pace rarely seen since World War II. The workers seeing some of the sharpest wage growth in this expansion are not the ones behind a desk. They’re electricians, pipe fitters, and concrete crews putting up data centers and advanced manufacturing plants across the country, and there aren’t enough of them to keep up with the demand.

That labor shortage is pushing construction wages well above what the same work paid just a few years ago, and it’s pulling hundreds of billions in investment into states that haven’t seen this kind of economic activity in decades.

Michael Capaldi, real estate partner at FBT Gibbons, has been on the ground side of these deals across nine states. He maps out where the money is going and what’s standing between American workers and the opportunity in front of them.