About 1 in 10 Americans who work in construction are women, according to a report by Labor Locators. Boise-based Micron wants to change that. And the federal government is taking the lead.
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced in May the creation of the CHIPS Women in Construction Framework, an initiative that aims to double the number of women working in construction over the next decade, an ambitious but not entirely far-fetched goal.
“Women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, but they remain vastly underrepresented in sectors like construction, which need more skilled workers to fill these high-paying jobs,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su , in a statement. Press release.
Micron has voluntarily committed to the framework – collaborating with contractors, unions and others to increase the participation of women and the economically disadvantaged in construction. Intel too.
After all, companies need a significant amount of construction labor to fulfill their plans to reinforce national semiconductor production over the next decade.
‘An untapped resource is women’
The framework to recruit more women was announced about a week after the Biden administration revealed Micron would receive $6.1 billion in subsidies to help pay for its chip factories in Boise and New York state. The new factories, short for semiconductor manufacturing, are expected to generate more than 9,000 construction jobs between the two projects.
At its peak, Micron anticipates having about 4,500 construction workers on site at its $15 billion factory in southeast Boise, according to Heather Baldwin, Micron’s vice president of purchasing.
Micron is the largest in Idaho for-profit employer, with more than 5,000 employees, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. The company has several factories and related operations abroad. Micron claims to employ 44,000 people worldwide.
In fact, the company expects to have so many workers that it plans to add a canteen.
“If you flew in on a plane and saw the place recently, you would see that there is a hive of activity out there,” Baldwin told the Idaho Statesman on a Zoom call. “We need more people getting into construction and working in the construction industry to support all this growth. And an untapped resource is women.”
Micron paved the way at the factory on its headquarters campus in late 2022. Wayne Hammon, CEO of Idaho Associated General Contractors, previously told the Statesman that hundreds of workers assigned to projects in Arizona, Nevada and elsewhere would move to Idaho to work on the project. Still, industry experts predict a deficit. Big projects in the Treasure Valley, like the Micron expansion, have involved such a large percentage of the state’s construction and trade workers that developers say the pressure could hurt Other projectslike new apartment complexes and commercial buildings in downtown Boise.
Micron aims to ease barriers to entry
In order to encourage more women to enter the male-dominated workforce, Micron wants to break down traditional barriers to entry.
“Some of the things we are going to work on with the community, the CHIPS Program offices, contractors and others in the sector is: How can we get more women interested in the construction sector? And how can we include them in the workforce to support not just us, but Idaho in general?” Baldwin said.
She said the jobs are sometimes unionized, sometimes not, but they pay well and often come with internships and other training. She deferred a question about how much construction workers at Micron facilities could earn for contractors. But Idaho Department of Labor economist Jan Roeser previously told the Statesman that construction workers in Idaho had one of the largest hourly wage gains in 2023.
However, this has not alleviated the shortage of workers.
“A lot of people left the construction industry (during the pandemic) and went into something else,” Roeser said. “And a lot of young people aren’t thinking about construction. They’re thinking about healthcare because there’s a lot of information out there about healthcare being recession-proof. There is more seasonality in construction.”
Baldwin said that while some construction jobs are temporary, such as for a period of 10 or 12 months, other jobs can last for years. And because building a factory is somewhat unique in that it is done in several phases and then requires ongoing maintenance, there is a set of trade jobs that become semipermanent, she said. As technology evolves, equipment is moved or sold and new parts are installed. It involves electricians, pipelayers and many other skilled workers.
Working towards child care solutions
Part of Micron’s Boise expansion includes a nursery, which the company started about a year ago. Micron said this would help address barriers to entry into the workforce and make the transition easier for employees, especially mothers.
But the nursery it is only for Micron employees, Baldwin said, and would not be accessible to construction workers at its factory site.
“Child care is a barrier for many parents,” Baldwin said. “We are working with the state, community organizations, contractors and unions to find out if there are women who want to enter internships and if the union doesn’t already offer child care – is there anything we can figure out to help them?”
‘Many different angles’ to recruit more women
Baldwin said there are discussions about what more Micron can do to alleviate barriers and recruit more women and economically disadvantaged people into construction.
Baldwin mentioned establishing networks or leadership groups for women and creating workplaces where women can feel safe. The framework asks companies to commit to maintaining healthy, safe and respectful workplaces that prevent and address harassment, discrimination, retaliation and violence through workplace training, policies and practices.
And there are other things, like making sure there are women’s bathrooms in workplaces and having helmets and harnesses that fit everyone.
Baldwin added that there is a misconception and fear that construction involves hard work all the time. She said many commercial jobs are not like that.
Although only about 10% of construction workers in the U.S. are women, many perform tasks that don’t require physical labor, according to the report of Job Finders. Around 40% of women in the sector hold management positions and roles. Only 2% work in production, transport and movement of materials.
“There are a lot of different angles we will take,” Baldwin said. “We really need to increase all types of people coming into the construction industry. The work we will do with women will directly impact other groups in a very positive way. It’s really exciting to think about the difference we can make.”
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