Women have been making great strides in the U.S. workforce for decades. The construction industry is no exception.

Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show more than 1.3 million women were employed in construction last year. That represents just over 11% of the more than 12 million people working in the industry in 2024.

According to an analysis of the data by the National Association of Homebuilders, that is the highest share for women in construction in 20 years. Their participation in the industry has increased by about 500,000 and five percentage points since the Great Recession in 2008. Their share has now reached and surpassed the pre-Recession highs of about 1.1 million and 8.5% of the total share.

In a more granular analysis, NAHB explains that the greatest proportion of women in construction work in office-related roles, while a very small percentage work in the field. Construction sales and office occupations employ 476,000 women, nearly two-thirds or 65.7% of the positions. Management and other professional occupations employ 521,000 women, but this figure represents a much smaller percentage of the total, 18%.

At the other end of the spectrum, 307,000 women work in actual construction and maintenance positions, representing only about 4% of the total.

NAHB notes that as the construction industry struggles with a continuing shortage of labor, attracting more women to the industry could be a good strategy to increase the overall supply of workers.

The BLS provides additional data on the status of women in the workforce. According to a BLS report from June, Women in the labor force, 2023: women and workplace flexibilities, women’s participation in the U.S. labor force has increased notably since the 1940s. Women represented 32.7% of the total national workforce in 1948. That number rose steadily and peaked at 60% in 1999. The share of women in the workforce dropped slightly and has hovered at around 57% since 2012.

Women still have some ground to make up in other related professions. According to detailed occupational data from the BLS , women represented slightly less than 3% of the 992,000 electricians employed in the U.S. in 2024. In the same year, they represented 12.7% of the 266,000 electrical and electronics engineers, and 1.8% of the 131,000 electrical power line installers and repairers. Women had their greatest representation in the field of electrical, electronics and electromechanical assemblers, where they represented more than half (54.9%) of the 115,000 employees.