Laborforce Diversity in the New Jersey Construction Industry

Aletheia Research Institution leveraged its expertise in survey development and statistical analysis to investigate the demography of employees at member companies of the Associated Builders and Contractors New Jersey Chapter (ABC-NJ). The investigation combined ABC-NJ member data, publicly available demographic data and detailed profile data reported by a sample of ABC-NJ member companies (which included an opt-in survey about COVID and labor force diversity). The profiles of member companies were collected during a 6 month window and those used in the study were filled out between December ‘21 and May ‘22. Both the extended profile and survey data were collected using an application designed by Aletheia Research Institution and distributed by ABC-NJ.

This research offers detailed baseline information about the demographic composition of ABC-NJ member companies as well as the distribution of ABC-NJ member companies. The results provide a comprehensive summary of workforce demography during the period of analysis and offer insight into the stability of this demography during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the results show that the percentage of female W-2 employees at ABC-NJ member companies is higher than the percentage of females in the construction industry within the State of New Jersey. When looking at the racial makeup of W-2 employees at ABC-NJ member companies, we found that the percentage of non-white workers at participating businesses is higher than the percentage of non-white construction workers in New Jersey. Company-level analysis identified substantial differences in the demography of ABC-NJ member companies. Almost two-thirds of participating ABC-NJ member companies have percentages of both female and non-white W-2 employees that are comparable to or above state benchmarks. At the same time, 10 percent of ABC-NJ member companie s have percentages below benchmarks. A key finding is that businesses that identified diversity as apriority exceeded state benchmarks at a higher rate than businesses that do not. >Read the Report