It’s no secret that America’s shipbuilding workforce is in crisis. The nation is struggling to retain a sufficient workforce to meet existing requirements. It’s also no secret that China is outpacing the United States in shipbuilding at a rate of six to 1.8 combatant ships and a staggering 200 to one in commercial ships. President Donald Trump’s April 9, 2025, executive order, “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance,” calls for a Maritime Action Plan directing the secretaries of state, defense, labor, transportation, education, and homeland security to deliver recommendations to address workforce challenges. Put simply: The United States needs people to build ships and effectively compete with China. This rare moment of bipartisan agreement on the need to restore America’s maritime dominance lays the groundwork to focus on practical skills, tap into patriotic and underserved labor pools, modernize hiring practices, and expand shipbuilding beyond traditional hubs.
One of us (Schmiegel) is a senior executive at Orion Talent, a company that specializes in talent acquisition support for maritime industrial base suppliers, who therefore has a commercial interest in this outcome. However, the role also offers direct, practical insight into the challenges faced by both employers and prospective employees within the maritime industrial base. This perspective is shared here to provide additional context to the story depicted by data alone.
And the data is daunting: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current ship and boat building workforce includes approximately 146,500 employees. However, workforce demands in the shipbuilding industry are projected to more than double over the next decade to keep pace with strategic requirements. The skilled workforce is further impacted by an aging population, with the average age of skilled workers at 55 and many nearing retirement. Turnover among younger members of the shipbuilding workforce is high, with shipyards reporting attrition rates of 20 percent or more.
Attracting new talent remains a challenge, as most high school graduates have limited exposure to trade skills and are typically encouraged to pursue college attendance over vocational or trade school pathways. For their part, the nation’s leading shipbuilders offer pathways to entry and competitive pay. Apprenticeship programs provide paid, on-the-job training in specific shipbuilding trades. Pay and benefits are competitive, with an average salary between $62,400 and $83,200 (compared to the U.S. average individual income of $39,982 and the average household income of $78,538). Yet the current approach is inadequate to meet existing demand, let alone build a workforce capable of supporting future needs.
The whole-of-government strategy advocated by both the White House Office of Shipbuilding and the bipartisan, bicameral SHIPS for America Act of 2024 presents a critical opportunity for the nation to develop innovative solutions for attracting, retaining, and growing a strong shipbuilding workforce. Such an approach can further leverage and reinforce the administration’s other domestic and national security priorities. The administration has expressed a strong commitment to transitioning from credential-based hiring to skills-based assessments throughout federal hiring practices, elevating an approach that is ideally suited to shipbuilding.
In a May 29 memo, the Office of Personnel Management emphasized that relying solely on educational credentials can exclude qualified individuals who have developed their skills through nontraditional means. The memo highlights that skills-based hiring “shifts the focus…to what applicants can do,” using verified, competency-based evaluation. This approach is particularly well-suited to industries like shipbuilding, where practical ability often outweighs formal education.
Moreover, skills-based hiring aligns well with professions where expertise is primarily developed through on-the-job training. This approach further aligns with societal trends, as the majority of Americans no longer believe that a college degree is worth the cost.
Targeted recruiting of candidates who have a propensity to serve their country is one solution. People who join the military already show a high propensity to serve their country. This talent pool should inherently understand how careers in the maritime industrial base and shipbuilding industries contribute to our national defense. Military veterans consistently seek to continue the sense of purpose that comes with serving their country after they leave the military. Many have skills that predispose them to be qualified for shipbuilding or Merchant Marine careers. Those in charge of military transition should encourage servicemembers to consider serving their country by joining this industry after transition. Such opportunities should be presented to them during the formal Transition Assistance Program, providing resources to point them in the direction of continued service to the nation alongside competitive employment opportunities. And the moment is right for such an evolution, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins have vowed to examine and revamp post-military transition programs.
Additionally, roughly 77 percent of young men and women who seek to enlist in the military are ineligible. Rather than turning these young, patriotic-minded Americans away from a career in service, recruiting offices should direct them to maritime careers as a pathway for serving their country in a different way.
Lastly, the White House and Congress have expressed interest in the concept of federated shipbuilding — approaching the “nation as a shipyard.” This idea carries significant merit, promoting a more unified, collaborative approach to leveraging shipbuilding capabilities across the country — and providing access to opportunity for a greater swath of the American workforce. Currently, shipbuilding jobs are concentrated around shipyards in just a few cities across the nation, at a time when there are literally not enough people in some of these areas to fill the needed positions.
The recently re-introduced SHIPS Act provides for “Maritime Prosperity Zones” to encourage the development of outsourced manufacturing of ship components. If passed the administration should think creatively and prioritize geographic regions where a high concentration of potential talent exists currently — for instance, targeting areas where a high percentage of the population does not attend college, or where military recruiting stations and skilled training centers are concentrated such that those interested in serving their nation but ineligible for military service have opportunities nearby. This would alleviate the currently heavy task of convincing qualified talent to move or building training infrastructure from scratch.
The future of American maritime dominance will not be determined solely by the number of ships launched or contracts signed, but rather by the strength and sustainability of the workforce behind them. The current moment presents a rare alignment of bipartisan support, political will, and strategic necessity. By embracing a skills-based approach to hiring, leveraging untapped talent pools — including veterans, service-minded civilians, and talent across the interior of the United States — and expanding shipbuilding across the nation, the United States can ensure a resilient, mission-ready shipbuilding workforce to meet current and future requirements.
Katherine Kuzminski is the director of studies at the Center for a New American Security.
Laura Schmiegel is a senior vice president at Orion Talent.
Image: U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Joe Kane via Wikimedia Commons.
