Women in Construction
Women are underrepresented among the workers in many infrastructure-related industries, including construction, manufacturing, and clean energy (Shaw, 2023). All three industries have a high demand for workers, including on federally funded projects. This need has highlighted the importance of understanding the changing U.S. workforce, such as having timely and accurate data that can guide safety and health interventions, as well as recruitment and retainment efforts of underrepresented groups, including women.
This interactive story-dashboard analyzes trends for women workers in construction from 2011 to 2023, including their numbers in construction and all industries and a deep dive into the characteristics of those working in the industry. Both sheets have a dashboard-level filter Year that updates the charts and the bolded and underlined key findings. Click on the boxes at the top of the dashboard to switch between the two sheets, including Women in Construction and All Industries and Characteristics of Women in Construction. There is also a chart-level filter Characteristic that updates the chart and bolded and underlined key findings in that respective section.
Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data source, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to a chapter in the upcoming PDF version of the Construction Chart Book-7th edition, which will be published this summer. Data will be updated annually as available. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected].
About the Data
Sarah Flood, Miriam King, Renae Rodgers, Steven Ruggles, J. Robert Warren, and Michael Westberry. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, 1985-2023 Current Population Survey: Version 9.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2022. https://doi.org/10.18128/D030.V9.0.
- The data was weighted using the final basic weight and not composite weight for replicating U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); thus, estimates presented are not directly comparable to estimates published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Definitions
- Class of Worker –
- Self-employed, incorporated – Individuals who work for their own legal corporation.
- Self-employed, not incorporated – Individuals who work for themselves apart from an established corporation.
- Wage-and-salary– Individuals who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips or payment in kind from an employer in private (private wage-and-salary) or public (public wage-and-salary) sectors. Synonymous with “payroll”.
- Construction workers – Individuals age 16+ whose primary job was in the construction industry (Census classification scheme industry code 770).
- Craftworkers – All workers except those who are managerial, professional, or administrative support. Can be interchanged with blue-collar or production workers.
- Industry – The industrial sector where the person performed their primary job.
- Occupation – Reported main occupation worked the week before the survey coded according to the 2018 Census Classification Scheme. Certain categories were combined by the CPWR Data Center for analysis. Specific occupation codes can be requested by emailing [email protected].
- Women workers – Construction workers who reported their sex as female.