NEW YORKN NY. (WOWO) — Mike Rowe is warning that America’s shortage of skilled workers is becoming a defining workforce challenge, as businesses face growing demand for people who can build, maintain and power the nation’s infrastructure.

Rowe, CEO of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on “Varney & Co.” that employers across a wide range of industries are increasingly struggling to find qualified workers.

“This workforce thing is the problem of the decade,” Rowe said. “And it’s not gonna go away until we come at it from a different angle.”

Rowe’s comments come as employers in construction, manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and other skilled industries report difficulty filling positions.

A national report from the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades projects roughly 1.7 million skilled-trade job openings annually through 2035. The report also estimates training programs are producing about 55 workers for every 100 workers needed.

The shortage is not uniform across every occupation or state, Rowe cautioned.

“What you’re seeing across dozens and dozens of trades are shortages that are more or less universal,” Rowe said. “But individually, trade to trade, state to state, there’s variance.”

Still, Rowe said the calls he receives from business leaders demonstrate the scale of the concern.

“Every week I get a call, either from a CEO of some big company or some consequential industry,” Rowe said. “And they’re freaking out.”

The workforce issue is unfolding alongside another major change in the labor market: the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.

Rowe said he believes AI could be contributing to a renewed interest in skilled trades as workers and younger Americans reassess which career paths may offer long-term opportunities.

“Just through my foundation alone, the demand is up 10x over the same time a year ago,” Rowe said. “So something has definitely changed out there in the ether, and I suspect AI has a lot to do with it.”

The mikeroweWORKS Foundation promotes careers in the skilled trades and provides scholarships and other assistance to people pursuing trade education.

Rowe said the increased interest is occurring at a time when Americans are also confronting the rising cost of traditional four-year college education and uncertainty over how quickly AI could change white-collar occupations.

The skilled trades encompass a broad range of careers, including electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics, HVAC technicians, construction workers and other specialized occupations.

Many of those jobs require technical education, apprenticeships or industry certifications rather than a traditional four-year college degree.

The demand for skilled workers is also being amplified by large infrastructure and technology projects.

The expansion of data centers, in particular, is creating demand for electricians, construction workers, equipment operators and other specialized workers needed to build and maintain the facilities.

That competition can affect other industries.

Home Builders Institute President and CEO Ed Brady has previously warned that the construction industry is competing with the data-center buildout for skilled workers, adding pressure to an already strained housing construction workforce.

The shortage has also prompted businesses, government officials and education organizations to place greater emphasis on career and technical education, apprenticeships and other alternatives to traditional college pathways.

Rowe has long argued that the country has undervalued vocational and technical careers while steering large numbers of young people toward four-year degrees.

His latest comments suggest that the combination of a persistent skilled-labor shortage and uncertainty surrounding AI could be changing that calculation.

The scale of the potential change remains difficult to predict.

AI is expected to automate or alter some tasks across many occupations, but the impact will vary significantly by industry and job. Skilled trades often involve physical work in unpredictable environments, requiring hands-on problem-solving and specialized knowledge that can be difficult to automate completely.

At the same time, AI and advanced technology are becoming part of the skilled-trades workforce themselves, with workers increasingly using digital tools, automated equipment and computerized systems on job sites and in industrial facilities.

For employers, the issue is not simply whether there are enough workers available today. It is whether the education and training system can produce enough qualified workers to meet projected demand over the next decade.

Rowe said the growing interest in his foundation’s programs indicates that more people may be reconsidering the traditional assumption that a four-year college degree is the primary route to a successful career.

He also pointed to the earnings potential available in some skilled professions.

Some specialized trade workers, particularly those working in industries such as energy, advanced manufacturing and data-center construction, can earn six-figure salaries, although pay varies substantially by occupation, experience, location and employer.

The broader labor shortage comes as the United States undertakes major investments in infrastructure and technology while employers contend with an aging workforce and retirements among experienced tradespeople.

For Rowe, those trends make the workforce shortage a problem that cannot be addressed simply by increasing the number of college graduates.

He argues that more Americans need access to practical training and a clearer understanding of the career opportunities available outside the traditional four-year college path.

The immediate challenge for employers is finding enough qualified workers to fill open positions.

The longer-term challenge is building a pipeline of workers capable of replacing retiring employees while meeting new demand created by infrastructure projects, manufacturing expansion, energy development and data centers.

Rowe said the surge in interest reaching his foundation suggests that workers and employers alike recognize the labor market is changing.

And as artificial intelligence continues to reshape some occupations, he said the skilled trades may become an increasingly important part of the nation’s workforce conversation.