A Union Versus Non-union Analytics for the Construction Labor Market

The skilled labor shortage has always been one of the industry’s greatest challenges. Moreover, Covid-19, the great resignation, and the 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are collectively exacerbating this problem through increasing labor demand. Trade unions in the construction industry are known to play an important role in key labor issues such as labor training, employment, and retention. Nonetheless, the last three decades have witnessed a steady decline in union participation rates of construction workers from 20 to 13%. Still, trade unions are believed to be one of the solutions that can bridge this shortage. As such, the goal of this paper is to analyze union participation of skilled construction workers within key labor-intensive trades. To achieve this goal, the authors identified ten key labor-intensive trades. Following, statistical analysis was conducted to (1) assess the union membership rates in each of the identified labor-intensive trades and (2) investigate the relationship between workforce location and union participation. The results of this research provide a deeper understanding of the patterns of skilled labor participation in trade unions. Ultimately, this research lays the groundwork for investigating skilled labor shortages in construction by assessing the current stance of labor trades within the construction industry.