Have you counted the cranes in the Portland skyline lately? Count quickly as another is likely rising as you read this. To no surprise, construction is booming and the demand for labor far exceeds the available workforce, particularly for people of color and women.
While we all understand the impacts of high demand, the dynamics of the trades’ workforce are complicated. Recruitment and retention of women and people of color is just one area clearly needing improvement.
So how does one address social equity in the workforce? To start, hotel developer, Mortenson Development, contributed $300,000 for the Community Construction Training Program. Metro also contributed $150,000. This $450,000 investment in training has a goal of increasing access to trade careers for people of color and women.
Mortenson and Metro are working to improve access to both minority- and woman-owned contracting businesses as well as helping ease the pathways for minorities and women looking to enter the trades as a career. Progress reports from Mortenson indicates their efforts are delivering results. To date, the overall workforce is approaching 29 percent people of color and eight percent women. Apprenticeship hours are significantly over goal at 28.5 percent.
Social equity workforce numbers: February 2019 progress report
Chart provided by Mortenson. The data used to create these charts is available in the "progress reports" section. All utilization hours reported are through the previous month.
| |
Project goal |
February |
Project to date |
| Apprentice |
20% |
27.4% |
28% |
| People of color |
30% |
33.5% |
28.8% |
| Female |
15% |
5.6% |
7.8% |
Hotel project on time and on budget
Project is proceeding according to schedule, approaching 75 percent completion. No discrepancies, conflicts or ambiguities exist in the construction documents that require resolution. No health or safety issues exist in connection with the work.
LEED certification
The project is on target for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver rating, which requires 50 points. Currently the project team anticipates to achieve 53-57 points. Design points to be submitted to USGBC in November, upon completion of 100 percent design.
Return to hotel progress page