In 2025, the number of women employed in the construction industry rose to around 1.37 million, an increase of about 31,000 from 2024. Women accounted for 11.3% of total construction employment, the highest share in the past 20 years.
The growing presence of women in construction aligns with the expansion of white-collar jobs in the industry. As the industry continues to face a persistent shortage of skilled labor, expanding the workforce remains one of the top priorities of the industry. Increasing the participation of women into the construction labor force represents a potential opportunity for future growth. This article uses labor force statistics from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to examine the role of women in construction employment and the occupations in which women are most highly represented.
The number of women working in construction has increased substantially since the Great Recession. As shown in the figure below, the number of women working in construction declined from more than 1.1 million in 2007 to roughly 807,000 in 2010, as the housing recession sharply reduced construction activity. Since then, women’s employment in construction has generally trended upward. From 2010 to 2017, the number gradually rose to around 970,000 but remained below the peak of pre-recession levels. The number surpassed 1 million again in 2018, reached 1.24 million in 2021, and continued rising to 1.37 million in 2025.
The share of women in construction workforce has also increased. After remaining around 9% after the Great Recession, the share began picking up noticeably in 2017. By 2025, women represented 11.3% of the construction workforce, marking the highest share over the 2004-2025 period.
Although women’s share in construction workforce has increased, their participation in construction varies widely by occupations. According to the CPS data, most women are employed in occupations such as office and administrative support, management, and and business and financial operations. Women accounted for 78% of office and administrative support occupations within the construction industry, the highest share among major construction occupational groups. Women also represented 40% of workers in service occupations (excluding protective services), and 35% of workers in protective service occupations. Women also made up 24% of construction workers in professional occupations, 19% in sales occupations, and 16% in management, business, and financial operations occupations.
By contrast, women remained much less common in construction and maintenance occupations, which account for the largest number of employees in construction and are where additional workers are most needed. Women comprised only 4% of workers in construction and extraction occupations, 3% in installation, maintenance, and repair occupations, and 6% in production occupations. Increasing women’s participation in these occupations could help expand the pool of skilled workers available to the construction industry.
