The Importance of Diversity & Inclusion in Construction

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Embracing diversity and fostering true inclusion in construction is a competitive imperative in 2025 and beyond. It is essential to close talent gaps, unlock innovation, and create a built environment that genuinely serves community needs. Moral imperatives and social responsibility aside, diversity and inclusion are key to resolving the talent shortfall faced by construction firms nationwide. With 20% of the current construction workforce already 55 or older, the U.S. will need about 454,000 additional construction workers to meet demand in 2025 alone.

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Workforce Imbalances in Construction

Current imbalances in the construction workforce reveal enormous untapped pools of talent:

In 2024, women finally cracked double digits, rising to 11.2% of the construction workforce (1.34 million workers).
Already the backbone of many field crews, Hispanic and Latino workers now represent 31.1% of construction employment, compared to 18.7% across all industries.
Progress has been slower for Black construction workers, currently holding about 6% of construction jobs (roughly half their share of overall U.S. employment).

Entrenched habits–not a lack of talent–are the chief impediments to a more representative construction workforce. Recruiting pipelines still lean on informal networks. Word-of-mouth referrals from families, union halls, and longstanding subcontractor relationships tend to replicate the demographics of yesterday’s crews. Additionally, entry barriers such as pre-apprenticeship fees, expensive tools, and unreliable transportation disproportionately affect women, immigrants, and people of color, who are more likely to lack the necessary spare cash or schedule flexibility.

Once on site, a “tough guy” culture can undercut retention. Sexist jokes, hazing, and language obstacles make some newcomers question whether they belong, while a shortage of bilingual supervisors or gender-specific PPE makes inclusion appear to be an afterthought. And rigid project timelines and unpredictable overtime clash with caregiving duties, making the industry less attractive to parents, especially mothers, who lack affordable childcare options. These issues reinforce one another, slowing the diversity momentum that could help the industry solve its labor shortages.

Contractor Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion

Expanding recruiting to underrepresented groups widens the funnel precisely when retirements and megaprojects squeeze supply. It also can ignite performance and enhance a firm’s ability to win work.

Improvements in Safety and Well-Being

Research from Virginia Tech and other institutions shows that diverse crews operating in inclusive environments communicate hazards, such as energized circuits and unstable trenches, half a shift earlier on average than homogenous teams. Earlier communication gives supervisors more time to act, mitigating many risks before injuries can occur. This happens because inclusive environments foster trust, encouraging open dialogue and the psychological safety workers need to speak up quickly. And diverse teams, with varied experiences and perspectives are better at identifying hazards, yielding measurable safety benefits, such as lower injury rates, fewer lost-time incidents, and less OSHA-recordable injuries.

Innovation and Productivity Increases

Construction is increasingly tech-driven. Robotics, drones, BIM-based digital twins, and generative AI schedulers are becoming part of the core workflow in construction, reshaping what it takes to deliver on time and on budget. Whether those tools translate into real productivity gains depends on the people using them. Teams that mix genders, cultures, trades, and educational backgrounds are more likely to challenge legacy habits, spot unconventional use cases, and champion the rollout of new apps. There is plenty of evidence that wider perspectives fuel faster innovation.

Client & Compliance Advantage

Many public project owners and private developers embed supplier-diversity or workforce-diversity clauses in RFPs and bid solicitations. When this is the case, firms that nurture inclusive cultures and diverse subcontractor and supplier networks gain a decisive edge in bid scoring and community approvals.

Contractor Strategies to Improve Diversity and Inclusion

Volumes have been written on the steps employers can take to increase diversity and inclusion. Here are some helpful strategies specific to the construction industry.

Talent Acquisition and Development

Start with hiring.

Widen applicant pools by advertising craft and office positions through community colleges, pre-apprenticeship programs, military transition centers, women-in-trades groups, and minority professional associations, and remove unnecessary “journeyman-only” language that screens out capable newcomers. 
Rewrite job ads with gender-neutral language.
Partner with high school career and technical education (CTE) programs and pre-apprenticeships in underserved ZIP codes.

Pair these outreach efforts with inclusive workforce development. Paid internships, bilingual apprenticeships, and mentorship programs attract new employees and encourage them to stay.

Building an Inclusive Culture

Culture-building requires commitment, not a big budget.

Signing the Associated General Contractors of America’s (AGC’s) voluntary Culture of CARE pledge provides a readymade set of tools to foster an inclusive culture, such as toolbox talk scripts, bystander intervention training, and “see something say something” job site posters that reinforce zero tolerance for bias or harassment.
Couple those resources with Construction Inclusion Week’s free five-day curriculum to spark conversations about belonging, mental health, and supplier diversity across every crew.
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) and the National Association of Minority Contractors also offer invaluable resources.

Procurement and Project Governance

Set clear targets for subcontracting dollars awarded to certified minority, woman, veteran, and LGBTQ owned businesses. Require trade partners to submit their own workforce demographics and safety culture plans, reinforcing the concept of inclusion as a core performance metric alongside schedule and quality. Finally, tie leaders’ bonuses to progress, whether that is an increase in underrepresented supervisors, a drop in voluntary turnover, or higher engagement survey scores. Accountability for diversity and inclusion should be unmistakable.

The Takeaway

Broader recruiting fills talent gaps, inclusive culture retains that talent, and diverse perspectives unlock fresh solutions that make every future bid more competitive.