"Promote Influx of Female Workforce to Address Aging in Construction Industry"

A call has been made for government-level support measures to attract female workers to the construction industry, which is experiencing aging. There is an opinion that various channels should be explored, similar to Japan, which has been conducting related promotions and programs since 2014.

A construction site in Seoul city / Photo by Yonhap News

According to the Korea Construction Industry Research Institute on the 3rd, Research Fellow Choi Eun-jung stated in the recently published Construction Trend Briefing (No. 912), "A public-private joint 'Network for Fostering Female Workforce in the Construction Industry (tentative name)' should be established and actively promoted to strive for the sustainable development of the construction industry."

While the importance of skilled workers is increasing, construction sites are aging as younger generations avoid the industry. The alternative is to utilize female workers. However, according to Statistics Korea, as of last year, the proportion of female employees in the construction industry was only 11.1%, which is just a quarter of the overall industry average (43.3%). It is also less than half compared to manufacturing (28.6%).

The working environment for female construction technicians was also found to be unsatisfactory. In a 2021 survey of 648 people conducted by the Korea Construction Policy Research Institute, 75.5% of female construction technicians reported earning a monthly average wage of less than 3 million KRW. Additionally, at least 2 to 4 out of 10 reported experiencing discrimination in hiring, job placement, salary, and performance evaluations. Among construction site skilled workers, men earned 3.77 million KRW per month, while women earned 2.94 million KRW, showing a wage gap.

Research Fellow Choi emphasized the need for government-level support activities by citing Japan's example. In 2014, Japan created a public-private joint "Action Plan for Increasing Women's Participation in the Construction Industry." They set a goal to double the number of female engineers and skilled workers within five years.

Since then, in 2015, they established a regional linkage promotion project, and in 2016, held activation seminars for construction industry managers, making efforts to settle and retain women in the construction industry. In 2020, they announced the "Action Plan for Promoting Women's Settlement in the Construction Industry," which included improving the construction industry environment, efforts to make the construction industry a preferred choice for women, and programs for women working in construction. Recently, they formed the Construction Industry Strategic Promotion Council to conduct comprehensive promotions for attracting female workers.

Research Fellow Choi said, "Japan's support measures aim for all women working in the construction industry to continue their employment," adding, "They are striving to create an environment where women can actively work by introducing flexible work systems needed by women, installing childcare facilities within companies, and implementing re-employment systems."

She added, "It is necessary to actively explore various channels to attract workforce. Promoting the influx of female workers could be an alternative to resolving the aging workforce and the widespread presence of foreign workers in the domestic construction industry," and "Measures to prevent career interruptions for female workers on site by utilizing the construction skill grading system can also be considered."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.