Dive Brief:
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A construction job in New York City enables a worker without a college education to earn at least $50,000 a year, but few of those employees are black or women, according to a new report by the New York Building Congress.
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The report, which analyzed data from the 2013 America Community Survey, said the city’s construction work force was 13% black, although a quarter of its residents are black. Women accounted for 9% of construction employees in New York. Hispanic workers were more prevalent on job sites than either of those groups.
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Half of the city’s construction workers had health insurance through their employers in 2013, the report revealed, down 3% from the year before.
Dive Insight:
People in Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities have protested over the past few years to bring attention to the lack of minority construction workers. Some have accused unions of discriminating against black people.
