Gen Z Skilled Trades: Nearly Half Are Considering the Leap

Nearly half of Gen Z is learning a skilled trade or seriously considering one, according to Thumbtack's third annual Future of the Skilled Trades Report, released September 16 via Business Wire, and the Gen Z skilled trades surge is rewriting the old career script of degree, office job, ladder.

The report is built on a survey of 1,000 U.S. young adults ages 16 to 30, conducted July 20 and 21, 2026, with a margin of error of 3.1 percent. More than 80 percent of those surveyed said it has become harder for young people to build a stable career than it was just a few years ago, and four out of five believe AI will eliminate many traditional entry-level jobs. That anxiety is already changing behavior: 92 percent said they have made at least one change to their career strategy in response to the job market. Thirty percent said AI has made them more interested in the trades, and three in four believe the trades may become one of the smartest career choices for their generation.

Why the trades look safe from AI

The appeal has a practical logic. A chatbot can draft a cover letter, screen a resume, and write marketing copy, but it cannot rewire a house or fix a leaking pipe. Physical skilled work is hard to automate, and that resilience is a big part of the draw for a generation watching entry-level office jobs get eaten by software.

It also matches what young workers are already doing. Gen Z entry-level hiring fell 6 percent as graduates rewrote their career plans (covered here earlier), a sign the usual on-ramp to office work is narrowing. Meanwhile a Deloitte survey found 63 percent of workers already use AI on the job, with a third hiding it from their boss (our writeup). When the entry-level desk job looks scarce and exposed to automation, picking up a trade starts looking like a rational move.

The pros say come on in

The people already in the trades are mostly welcoming the newcomers. Thumbtack also surveyed 1,495 working trade professionals between June 17 and July 17, 2026. Nearly 8 in 10 said they would recommend the trades to a young person, and nearly half reported higher demand and higher income than a year ago.

Recent entrants come from unexpected places. Among pros with less than two years in the industry, 38 percent previously worked in a corporate or white-collar career, and 26 percent entered the trades after burnout pushed them toward a reset. More than a third of recent entrants walked away from desks to pick up tools.

AI is already part of the toolkit. Thirty-five percent of pros said they use AI regularly for their business, most often for marketing, customer communication, and research. The split by experience says a lot: 52 percent of pros with under two years in the field use AI routinely, compared with more than a quarter of those with 20 or more years in the industry. Thumbtack co-founder and CEO Marco Zappacosta told Business Wire the opportunity "isn't to choose between technology and the trades, it's to bring them together," adding that AI can help skilled professionals become more productive and spend more time on the work only they can do.

The money comes with complications. Nearly three-quarters of the pros surveyed turned away work in the past year, most often over project fit or profitability. Competition, price-sensitive homeowners, and heavy admin work mean strong demand does not automatically become sustainable growth.

Where the work is hottest

Using Thumbtack marketplace data, the report ranks the metro areas best positioned for the future of skilled labor, based on professional supply strength and homeowner demand. The top 10, in order: Washington, D.C.; Charlotte; Atlanta; Raleigh-Durham; Baltimore; Chicago; West Palm Beach; Austin; Seattle; and Dallas. If you are trade-curious, the Southeast in particular looks like prime territory.

The same restlessness, everywhere

The trend shows up beyond one platform's data. A separate Harris Poll survey, commissioned by Strategic Education and Workforce Edge and reported by Reuters on September 16, found that about 70 percent of Gen Z healthcare workers expect to explore new roles within the next year, even though 65 percent hope to stay with one employer for five years or more. Career advancement, not just restlessness, seems to be driving the moves: nearly half of employers surveyed said a lack of career growth or training was the top reason workers leave, while only about one in four employees trusted their employer to invest in their future. The trades story fits the same pattern. Young workers are not abandoning ambition; they are redirecting it toward paths that look stable.

Thumbtack pro advisor Deon Marecheau, owner of Antillean Restoration, put it plainly in the report: "There's a lot of interest from young people who want to learn the trades. Bringing apprentices onto our team gives us a chance to develop talented people who can grow with our business or take those skills wherever their career leads."

The Gen Z skilled trades shift is really about math. Physical work pays, automation has a hard time touching it, and experienced pros will teach you if you show up. For a generation told the degree was the only ticket, the toolbox is starting to look like a serious option.