Photo by Yonas Hassen
Construction companies with municipal contracts in the District of Columbia are not abiding by D.C.’s rules requiring that a majority of their workforces be comprised of D.C. residents, a report commissioned by a major labor union contends.
Good Jobs First, a nonprofit labor advocacy group, found that fewer than 20 percent of new hires on the recently opened 11th Street Bridge were D.C. residents, even though the District Department of Employment Services’ First Source program requires that city residents account for at least 51 percent of new hires created for projects that receive public financing. The study found similar results on the first phase of construction of the Smithsonian’s forthcoming National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Instead, Good Jobs First says that most construction jobs are going to suburban workers, depriving D.C. residents of positions that pay an average of $45,000 a year, and often with decent benefits.
The study, which was ordered by Laborers International Union of North America, or LiUNA, also reports that 10,500 more District residents would have construction jobs if people living here were hired at the same clip as people living in the suburbs. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its most recent survey of local employment figures that the District had about 14,100 construction jobs in October.
Overall, construction accounts for nearly 7 percent of D.C.’s job market, but the Good Jobs First study says that only 2.9 percent of District residents are employed in the industry. Contrast that with Baltimore, where construction makes up the same percentage of the local economy, but 5.8 percent of Charm City denizens work in construction.
Good Jobs First estimates that if the First Source requirements were fully met, the D.C. economy would see the addition of $386 million in annual wages.
