We have been working with our stakeholder partners for the past year to update Finishing the Job: Best Practices for Diverse Workforce in the Construction Industry. We are happy to announce that version 8 is complete and ready for your use. It is always available on the PGTI site under the Best Practices pulldown menu. You can also access it here: Finishing the Job Best Practices v.8 Oct 2018. [Version 9.1 of Finishing the Job was released in December 2021 and is available here.]
We would like to give a special thanks to our reviewers who added their own experience and edits to the document. Thanks to Lori Corsi, Maggie Drouineaud, Samantha Glatfelter, Jill Lacey Griffin, Jill Houser, Margarita Polanco, Liz Skidmore, Danielle Skilling and Mary Vogel.
Our goal now is to see these Best Practices integrated and operationalized at all stakeholder levels. Critical areas that drive change are JATCs, union apprentice programs, that are increasing the number of women being admitted into apprenticeship and contractors that are hiring more women and placing them on core crews where employment is steady and hands-on training is consistent.
The proof of the impact of these strategies is in the increasing number of women in the trades. Our gold standard for measuring progress is the quarterly reports on women in Registered apprenticeship. As shown in the chart below, the number of women in union apprenticeship has increased by 141 in 2018. The percentage of women is now at 8.37%, almost three times the national average. Way to go, Massachusetts!
This chart was revised on 10.4.18 to reflect a lower —and more accurate—- number of women in non-union programs.
This chart and a list of all union apprentice programs in Massachusetts with their participation by women and people of color is available for download here: Q3 2018 Current demographics of women and people of color: v 2 Current demographics of women and minority participants in Registered Apprenticeship Programs in Massachusetts