More women needed to boost construction industry

CIF director general Tom Parlon: 'Women account for approximately half of the overall labour force in this country, but still less than one in 10 of the people working in our sector is female.' Picture: Conor McCabe Photography

More women are needed in the construction industry for Ireland to meet its building targets, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has said.

There are 14,400 women employed in the construction industry but this figure needs to increase as staff shortages are creating challenges for building demands such as increased housing, it said.

“With a major demand for more workers we have to be exploring all avenues for attracting additional talent. Women account for approximately half of the overall labour force in this country, but still less than one in 10 of the people working in our sector is female,” said CIF director general Tom Parlon.

Over 50,000 residential units are expected to be built between now and the end of 2023 and over 30,700 housing units were started last year, a 42% increase on 2020. However, the construction sector is now under pressure due to Covid-related absences and labour shortages.

“It is likely that similar absence levels may be observed in the first quarter of 2022 given the wide circulation of the Covid-19 virus in society, so output in the first quarter of 2022 may be negatively affected which could affect the overall output levels for the year,” said Banking and Payments Federation Ireland chief executive Brian Hayes recently.

Women make up just over 9% of the  construction workforce despite the industry having the highest level of women working in it on record, according to recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). One in four construction jobs added in 2021 went to a female candidate, and Mr Parlon says that this momentum needs to continue.

“Clearly that also involves breaking any biases that remain in the Irish construction sector,” said Mr Parlon.

“Every day these women are showing how much of a contribution they make to Irish construction and highlighting why we need to bring more women into the industry,” he added.

Construction employment increased by 23,200 in 2021, rising from 135,200 in the last quarter of 2020 to 158,400 in the same period for 2021. During that time, the level of female employment in the sector rose from 8,500 to 14,400, an increase of 5,900, showed CSO figures.

This jump represents slightly over 25% of the increase in the  construction workforce gained during 2021.

With the construction sector continuing to expand and requiring an additional 1,000 workers per month, the CIF believes that the industry will need to make further inroads into improving the ratio of female employees in the industry not only to create a more equal workforce, but to help achieve building targets as well.