NEW YORK – A report from the New York Building Congress found that New York’s construction workforce continues to grow and diversify despite ongoing challenges across the industry.
Overall, the state experienced an 11 percent increase in its construction workforce, growing to 545,000 workers from 493,000 workers the previous year, according to the group’s report.
Todd Diorio, head of Laborers’ Local 17 and president of the Building Trades Council of the Hudson Valley, is also business manager of the trades district council from Westchester County to Utica. He echoed the findings of the report for his area of the state.
“You look at the membership, it is definitely changing within the building trades. There are a lot more females getting actively involved in the building trades and we are finding some young, ambitious kids in the cities and minority that want to participate in the building trades, and it is working out very well,” he said.
Among the report’s recommendations is to facilitate work authorization for migrant construction workers.
The report found that 21 percent of the statewide workforce does not have full citizenship status. It said to support migrant workers and those who left their citizenship status unreported, expedited paths to work authorization should be explored.
