Construction Workers Are More Likely to Not Have Health Insurance

Nationally, the uninsured rate among full-time workers is just under 12%, but for employees in some of the more dangerous professions that rate is much higher, MarketWatch staffer Jacob Passy reports.

Among roofers nationwide, 50.5% don’t have health insurance, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data from career website Zippia. The construction industry has some of the highest non-insured rates in the country: Only 49.5% of drywall installers have health-care coverage, while 49.1% of plasterers and stucco masons go without insurance coverage.

For these workers, though, insurance coverage is especially important as they work in a profession with an elevated risk of serious occupational injury. Construction has the eighth-highest rate of incidents involving nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses, per data from the BLS. Indeed, the top industry in this regard — agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting — also employs people who are far more likely to be without health insurance than the average worker.

Overall, 11 of the 20 professions with the highest shares of workers who don’t have health insurance are in construction.