The Share of Women in Construction Rose Sharply in 2021

After an uptick in unemployment during the pandemic-induced recession of 2020, the total number of women employed in the construction industry rose to over 1.24 million in 2021. Women currently make up 11% of the construction workforce, the highest share on record, according to NAHB Eye on Housing.

Women accounted for 71% of all workers in sales and office occupations, filling 440,000 positions in office and administrative support and 40,000 in sales and related occupations in 2021. Job gains by women have outpaced overall construction job gains over the last several years, meaning that the share of women in construction is steadily rising nationwide.

While construction and maintenance occupations account for the largest number of employees in construction and is where additional workers are most needed, women comprised only 3.7% of the such occupations. Additional steps should be taken to attract female workers into these high demand occupations. Other groups such as production, transportation, and material moving occupations, and service occupations employed only around 15,000 female workers.

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