Unskilled people make crappy engineers and construction workers. We did this and it worked. I believe some elements of training were provided. https://en.wiki

Unskilled people make crappy engineers and construction workers. We did this and it worked. I believe some elements of training were provided. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps But suppose you are right - there are no unemployed people out there capable of fixing our crumbling infrastructure. Suppose we were to just throw money at the problem via ordinary government spending. How would the work actually get done, i.e. who would do it? Forcing people into a caring role makes for bad carers. No one is forced into anything. You do work and you get money, same as any other job. In any case, the folks who make bad carers can do other things, e.g. pick up trash in the park or work as janitors in government buildings.