What women say about working in construction

We interviewed 10 women apprentices in the building trades to learn what attracted new recruits to the industry and to hear about their experiences working in construction. All of them were drawn to the work for the competitive pay, strong benefits and financial security. As one apprentice said, “You’re set up with insurance and you know when you retire, you’re going to be OK.” To hear from these women apprentices in their own words, watch excerpts from the interviews.

Kilah Engelke, founder of the nonprofit EmpowHER Institute, who started in a trade and is now on the board of the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, also expressed enthusiasm for the benefits of working in construction when she spoke earlier this year to Julie Su, Acting Secretary of Labor. As summarized in a DOL blog post, Ms. Engelke said, “My experience as a tradeswoman has shaped my life. It has allowed me to live my dreams while building my pension and having the best healthcare available.” She also noted:

I have made great money as a cement mason, allowing me to own my own house, have nice vehicles, have amazing life experiences, be independent and not have to rely on anyone else besides myself, all while building my pension and having the best healthcare a person can have — all of which is included in my pay.

Highlight core benefits and how they support health and financial security

A 2022 Segal survey found that nearly 75 percent of building trade respondents said that unfamiliarity with opportunities and benefits was their greatest challenge in recruiting women. Getting the message right is essential.

It’s useful to mention benefits that women are more likely to use than men, such as maternity/parental leave, childcare/eldercare support and family-friendly benefits, in addition to pre-apprenticeship programs, which were designed to help prepare women and other under-represented groups enter the industry. (We discussed these strategies in the 2022 article, “Recruiting and Retaining Women in the Building Trades.”)

Access to childcare can help women continue to work after they become mothers. In recognition of this need, TradesFutures, a nonprofit that develops, promotes and improves apprenticeship readiness programs, has launched two childcare pilot programs, one in New York City and another in Milwaukee.

However, it’s essential to focus on the core health and retirement benefits that women and men alike appreciate.

Personal health

Give details about the comprehensive healthcare coverage you offer, including dental and vision benefits, as well as wellness programs and mental health/substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits. Wellness programs encourage preventive care and promote well-being. MH/SUD services are currently in high demand and the counseling and therapy you provide can help people manage stress anxiety, and other mental health conditions related to caregiving (a responsibly that still disproportionally falls on women) or financial pressures.

Specify cost-sharing requirements and what the out-of-pocket maximum is. If they’re lower than averages in your geographic area, be sure to call attention to that fact. Be specific about how much lower the costs are. A study of the advantage of union membership for healthcare found that being in a union reduces out-of-pocket healthcare costs by between 4.2 and 11.3 percentage points. That’s a powerful selling point.

Mention training on job-site safety that can help prevent on-the-job injuries. Women in construction are at increased risk for injury, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. For trainees participating in a Joint Apprentice & Training Committee apprenticeship program, fill coverage gaps.

As women have increased in numbers at construction sites and in labor in general, benefits have been enhanced to often include maternity leave and most recently family-building benefits, such as fertility benefits, adoption, egg harvesting and surrogacy coverage. The cost of these benefits to members is typically less under the plan than the services cost in the general market. If you offer family-building benefits, provide details.

Describe your retiree healthcare coverage. Even young tradeswomen are aware of and appreciate having this benefit, which is an increasingly uncommon offering in other occupations. This valuable coverage offers peace of mind and long-term security.

Retirement readiness

Although there’s renewed interest in defined benefit (DB) plans among some employers, the retirement plan design, which provides a guaranteed monthly income through a traditional pension, is still rare in corporate America. Consequently, is a major advantage of working in the unionized sector of the building trades. Call attention to that benefit because a DB plan can go a long way towards providing meaningful retirement income through a steady stream of retirement income.

Research, such as a 2024 survey by the Nationwide Retirement Institute^®, has found women are less prepared for retirement than men for several reasons, including they tend to earn less. In general, they are less confident about how to manage their savings. Moreover, many women have breaks in service/savings because they take time away from work for caregiving. Tradeswomen are fortunate to be paid the same as men for identical work. Although workers of both genders who have a DB plan need not worry about making their savings last or saving on their own for retirement, they are still affected by caregiving breaks. A possible solution to address that issue is to provide pension credit for the time that parents are on maternity or paternity leave.

Many unions/trades also offer a DC plan, which is a great companion to the DB plan. During retirement, when retirees are living on a fixed income, DC plan benefits can help them with unanticipated expenses or to offset the impact of inflation on a fixed monthly DB retirement benefit.

Also mention other appealing aspects of working in the building trades

From speaking with women apprentices, we learned about other aspects of working in the building trades, in addition to financial stability, that they like:

• Paid hands-on, on-the-job training, supplemented by classroom instruction
• Experienced journeypersons as teachers who help students master challenging skills
• Working with their hands
• The opportunity to work outdoors and/or in different locations
• Creating something tangible
• Supportive colleagues, including a network of other women who serve as role models
• Career advancement

These positive characteristics of the work should also be emphasized in your efforts to recruit women.