A Commercial Observer op-ed piece says there has been a 50 percent increase in the recruitment of women into the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York's apprenticeship programs, according to www.constructiondive.com. The piece was written by Kathleen Culhane, president of Nontraditional Employment for Women, and Gary LaBarbera, president of BCTC.
Each of BCTC's apprenticeship programs has committed to recruiting up to 15 percent of their enrollees from NEW's pre-apprenticeship training programs. The officials claim the partnership between the two organizations has increased the number of women in New York City trades by 20 percent since 2006.
During the past 10 years, more than 1,500 women have been placed in BCTC apprenticeships, where they reportedly can earn more than $18.50 per hour in starting wages and increase their pay to more than $60 per hour once they have completed their apprenticeship training.
The labor shortage in the construction industry has led to increased efforts targeting minority groups, veterans, women and other underrepresented demographics; however, the overall percentage of women in the industry hasn't changed much during the past few decades, remaining between 9 percent and 10 percent since 1996. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data places female participation within the construction industry at 9.9 percent.
There are about 8.3 million women in the construction industry, but less than 3.5 percent were working in field-related occupations. Building inspectors (14 percent), painters (7.2 percent) and helpers (5.6 percent) had the highest number of women in 2018; the percentage of women in high-demand trades such as carpentry, drywall hanging and electrical work were typically between 1.9 percent and 3.7 percent.
However, the percentage of women is seeing relatively healthy growth in the category of construction managers, which increased from 5.9 percent in 2003 to 7.7 percent in 2018.
