Diversifying the construction industry to solve labor shortage

According to the Biden Administration, if the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed, it will add up to 2 million jobs per year over a decade. These jobs would majorly fall into the construction industry that is currently facing a labor shortage with about 321,000 jobs left unfilled as of July. Experts look at this scarcity and suggest that the only way to battle this shortage is to diversify the construction sector. As per the data from the Department of Labor, nearly 90% of the 10.8 million people employed in the construction industry are white and only a small 11% of them are women. Despite all the efforts in the recent decades to diversify the industry, a set of exclusionary hiring practices and recruitment networks still prevail, making it hard for some groups to enter the industry and avail of job opportunities. 

Boyd Worsham, president of the National Center for Construction Education and Research says that the bill if passed could create an opportunity for the industry to hire from communities that have been ignored otherwise. There have been many initiatives in Maryland, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and elsewhere, showing much promise for underrepresented groups in the construction industry. 

Source: The New York Times