Navy League 2025: Workforce retention issues continue, naval shipbuilding officials note

HII has experienced problems retaining workers at its yards like Newport News Shipbuilding (pictured here). (Janes/Michael Fabey)

US shipbuilders are struggling to retain workers on the waterfront, according to industry and US Navy (USN) officials.

“It [the problem] is retention,” Chris Kastner, HII president and CEO, said on 2 April during a media briefing in advance of the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2025 annual conference and exposition, which started on 7 April.

“We can hire,” Kastner said. It's keeping them.”

Testifying on 25 March at a hearing before the Seapower Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Brett Seidle, navy's acting assistant secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition, estimated shipbuilding attrition levels of about 50%.

“I'm not going to comment on specific numbers,” Kastner said, adding the attrition rates are “very, very high”.

The question now, Kastner said at the briefing, is “what's it going to take to retain people”?

He said, “Hiring the entry-level people doesn't make sense anymore. You're going to have some entry-level hiring, but it can't be the majority of your hiring. You're going to have to hire experienced people, and you're going to have to pay them a bit more. And if you do that, we think the retention will improve.”

Kastner added, “What we're finding is you don't grow them by hiring them off the street. You have to grow them through the regional workforce development centres. You have to grow them through the apprentice school. You have to grow them through the community colleges. You have to grow them in the high schools, in established programmes, that is what we call the pipeline.”