About 20% of the construction workers who built the Hilton Cleveland Downtown hotel on The Mall were minorities, and 6% were women. That’s a big improvement for an industry that used to have the reputation of lacking a diverse workforce.
One reason for the change is a joint effort by contractors and the construction trade unions to build a pipeline of pre-apprenticeship and apprentice programs targeting women and minorities. It’s part of a broader effort to build a construction industry workforce as the large number of baby boomers retires.