Home Depot’s free Path to Pro training gains attention amid trades shortage

The online split is easy to see: Lowe’s is promising $250 million in grants, while Home Depot is giving away training. Underneath the viral comparison is a hard labor problem, with Associated Builders and Contractors saying construction needs 349,000 net new workers in 2026 and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting about 81,000 electrician openings a year from 2024 through 2034.

Lowe’s Foundation said April 7 that it would expand its Gable Grants program to a $250 million commitment by 2035, with a goal of helping train and develop 250,000 tradespeople. Lowe’s said nearly $53 million had already been invested in 65 organizations under the earlier $50 million commitment launched in March 2023, putting the company on track to prepare 50,000 people for skilled trades careers by 2027, a year ahead of schedule.

Home Depot’s Path to Pro takes a different route. The Home Depot Foundation launched the program in 2018, and later expanded it in 2021 with a $5 million grant to more than 250 schools in over 30 states. The company says Path to Pro offers free, on-demand training, entry-level certificates and a free networking platform that connects skilled job seekers with hiring pros. It also includes resources in English and Spanish, and Home Depot says thousands have already graduated from its Skills Program.

For workers, the difference is access and speed. Lowe’s is moving capital through community partners, which can build local pipelines over time but depends on where those grants land. Home Depot is putting the training itself in the hands of job seekers at no cost, with a direct line to employers. That matters in a market where Home Depot has cited about 400,000 open trade jobs and said 40% of current construction workers are set to retire by 2031.

The bigger takeaway for associates, department leads and store managers is that both retailers are treating the skilled-trades shortage as a workforce pipeline problem, not just a public-relations race. Lowe’s is betting that large-scale grantmaking can widen the funnel. Home Depot is betting that free, digital training and job matching can move people faster from interest to work. For an individual looking at the trades, the more immediate path is the one that removes cost, opens the door in English or Spanish and links training to an actual hiring network.