As the home building industry navigates a market struggling to increase production and boost sentiment, addressing an ongoing labor shortage has also become one of its top concerns.
This week, in recognition of Professional Women in Building Week, the National Association of Homebuilders is specifically calling for an increase in recruiting efforts for women in the homebuilding Industry.
Chair of the NAHB PWB Council and Building Ambassador of 84 Lumber Judy Dinelle said the industry needs to alter its approach in female recruitment.
“Right now more than ever is the time for our industry to not only increase our recruitment efforts, but to also change the way we talk about careers in home building to show women this industry has so much to offer them," Dinelle said.
Recent labor data collected from the United States Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey revealed that although women make up 47% of the total working population, currently only 9% of women work in the construction industry.
Despite a slow increase of nearly 970,000 female construction workers in 2017, female construction employment is still below the pre-recession level of 1.1 million in 2007, according to NAHB.
"We need to help the public, guidance counselors and parents understand that the industry provides a high income, significant work values, job security and a sense of accomplishment," Dinelle stated.
In order to accomplish this goal, PWB members hope to create more pre-apprenticeship programs throughout the country and develop leadership paths within their organizations, which they believe is a potential opportunity for the future.
"We've seen examples of pre-apprenticeship programs that are really quite successful, so we need to replicate those programs and implement them into more communities across the country," Dinelle continued. "We should all promote and offer to help the programs and organizations that provide training for women. It's our responsibility to put our words into action."
