The number of women employed in the construction industry increased to over 1.24 million in 2021, according to data from the Current Population Survey. The overall share of women in construction increased 1.9 percentage points from 2017 to 2021, and currently women make up 11% of the construction workforce, according to the NAHB.
During the Great Recession, the number of female workers in construction declined sharply by almost 30% to 807,000 by 2010. From 2010 to 2017, the total slowly expanded to around 970,000 but remained below the peak of pre-recession levels. The number of women working in construction grew rapidly in recent years, reaching a new high of 1.24 million in 2021.
Job gains by women have been outpacing overall job gains in construction in recent years. According to the Current Population Survey, women in construction are mostly involved in such occupations as office and administrative support, management, business and financial operations. Sales and office occupations employed the largest number of women within the construction industry. For example, women accounted for 71% of workers in sales and office occupations, including 440,000 women in office and administrative support, and 40,000 in sales and related occupations in 2021. Around 460,000 women were engaged in management, professional, and related occupations, taking up only 17% of all management positions.
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