Energy Department Report Finds Union Employers More Likely to Have Policies in Place to Recruit Women and People of Color
The Department of Energy released its 2023 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), a comprehensive study designed to track and understand employment trends across the energy sector. Of particular note, the USEER found that the landmark SWACCA-supported infrastructure bills—the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act—have led to the creation of almost 300,000 new jobs and that union employers do a better job of recruiting a diverse workforce than their non-union competitors.
The USEER finds that unionized employers were 50% more likely than non-union employers to have a policy to recruit women and two times more likely to have a policy to recruit persons of color. These statistics are useful and important in light of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s May 31, 2023 report that is driving questions about diversity, inclusion, and tolerance in our industry based on findings that racial and gender discrimination is rampant in construction. The USEER data is evidence that union employers are working to be part of the solution. The report also notes that union construction employers are 28% less likely than their non-union construction employer competitors to find it “very difficult” to find workers (31% of union construction employers versus 59% of non-union construction employers).
The full USEER report is available here.
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