What Does the Construction Industry Value in Its Workers?
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132, Issue 10
Abstract
This paper briefly characterizes today’s United States (U.S.) construction workforce, and attempts to provide evidence for what the construction industry most values in its workers. It presents the social and demographic characteristics of a sample of 862 construction workers, from 19 project sites that were interviewed in 2002, as part of a research effort at the University of Texas at Austin, and compares them with broader-based Bureau of Labor Statistics data to establish the degree to which they represent the U.S. construction workforce. Via statistical analysis, the paper explores the relationships between workers’ attributes and how the industry compensates them as reflected in both hourly wages and average annual incomes. The statistical results reinforce what is known about the importance of years of experience; however, it also provides evidence of the importance of number of crafts each worker possessed, and computer knowledge. Less, but significant, evidence was obtained for the importance of the number of years spent with his/her current firm, craft training hours, age, or self-assessed performance.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the Sloan Foundation for funding this research effort, and the Construction Industry Institute member companies which offered the job sites that were visited as part of this research effort. Also, the writers would like to express gratitude to the other graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin who helped in the data gathering process, including Jorge Castenada, Mike Pappas, and Stefanie Brandenburg.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132 • Issue 10 • October 2006
Pages: 1053 - 1058
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 30, 2004
Accepted: Mar 30, 2006
Published online: Oct 1, 2006
Published in print: Oct 2006
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