Poster #124 - Unfilled Opportunities: The Racial Gap in the Construction Industry

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024), Black Americans have the highest unemployment rate in the nation, almost twice as high as White Americans. In the construction industry, Black workers are significantly underrepresented while Hispanic workers are overrepresented (and disproportionately at low paying positions). Studies have shown that there has been a growing number of job vacancies in the construction industry in the past 20 years, despite the decline in the US-born working-age population. Predictions were made that the job vacancies in the construction industry would be unlikely filled by non-college educated natives, but rather non-college educated immigrants. This paper investigates the reason why unemployed low-educated Black Americans do not fill the construction job vacancies. Using mixed methods, this paper explores the structural barriers to entry in the construction industry, the effect of networks and mass incarceration on employment, and possible discrimination in hiring in the construction industry. Using quantile decomposition, this paper investigate factors contributing to the representation ratio gap between White individuals and people of color across the wage distribution in the construction industry. This paper contributes to the broader understanding of racial disparity employment, specically in the construction industry. For policy implications, it recommends the expansion of recruitment outreach and equitable access of construction jobs to the unemployed native Black population. 

Author

• Xiting Zhang, University of Minnesota
  Presenting Author