The number of women in construction is growing, but not nearly enough considering the increasing labor shortage and opportunity for good wages and a solid career. That's the main takeaway from a recent Marketplace report from Mitchell Hartman. He interviewed three women with unique perspectives. Here's what one woman said:
... for three decades now, Lauren Sugerman, director of the National Center for Women’s Employment Equity at Wider Opportunities for Women has been trying to get more women into well-paying construction jobs.
“The construction trades represent a significant segment of the blue-collar jobs that earn over $20/hour,” she says. “And these jobs are also growing dramatically.”
In the late 1970s, Sugerman herself entered an apprenticeship program for elevator constructors in Chicago. At the time, she says women made up less than 0.01 percent of construction workers. The percentage has gone up, but not by much, in her opinion. “Now, women are 2.6 percent of the construction workforce, so that’s very little progress.”
Listen to the report below. Read More
