In NYC, construction jobs are coveted for their earning potential and ability to propel hard workers comfortably into the middle class. With plenty of new job sites breaking, or soon-to-be breaking ground and a shortage of available laborers, there’s one set of workers that have been overlooked for far too long – women.
Women in Construction
According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of job openings in the construction industry has continually grown over the last decade, outpacing the number of available workers in the industry. During this time, the number of women in construction has continuously declined – in NYC women only make up about 3% of the total construction labor force. Over the last decade, it appears that women have mostly missed out on the opportunities in the construction industry and employers have done little to court a large section of the workforce that has long searched for many of the benefits that construction has to offer. In some instances, women in construction have been forced to take their employers to court to get a shot at the same opportunities afforded men.
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Construction remains a male-dominated industry; it also boasts near wage-parity across genders. A recent study by the National Association of Women in Construction showed that while on average women earn 81% of what men make, women in construction make 95% of what men do – nearly closing the gender pay gap! Often, when discussing issues of equal pay, the focus is almost entirely on white-collar jobs, whereas the trades have long been leading the charge on equal pay for equal work. It’s imperative that employers use this to their advantage and reassess how to introduce a new pool of talent.
Via Crain’s New York
