1 / 27

Women and Green Jobs

Women and Green Jobs. Susan Rees Wider Opportunities for Women April 1, 2009 srees@wowonline.org. What Are Green Jobs?. “Green” relates to a job’s purpose Jobs that conserve energy, expand renewable energy sources, conserve or improve the environment

MikeCarlo
Download Presentation

Women and Green Jobs

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Women and Green Jobs Susan Rees Wider Opportunities for Women April 1, 2009 srees@wowonline.org

  2. What Are Green Jobs? • “Green” relates to a job’s purpose • Jobs that conserve energy, expand renewable energy sources, conserve or improve the environment • 40% of energy is used to heat and cool buildings • 40% of green jobs expected in making buildings energy efficient • Therefore, many green jobs will be in construction – similar to traditional construction laborer and skilled trades. • Building retrofit, HVAC • Infrastructure development, e.g. “smart grid,” mass transit • And manufacturing – wind turbines, solar panels, auto batteries

  3. Skills Required for Green Jobs • Traditional construction skills with added technical aspects • And thinking “green,” understanding systems • Community college course for commercial HVAC-refrigeration • 2-year, 53 units • How buildings work – building commissioning • Energy use trend analysis and diagnostics • Control system programming • Communication and presentation skills • Basic skills, including trigonometry and geometry

  4. Green: A Road to Better Jobs for Women? • Construction and other green jobs likely will pay more than those traditionally held by women. • 2/3 of all working women are clustered in only 21 of 500 job categories (Women Work, using BLS data) • Except for nurses and school teachers, these categories include some of the lowest paying industries • Retail • Personal services • Food establishments

  5. The Boost From Construction Wages • Single mother with one preschooler needs • $24,139 to make ends meet, WOW’s national median Self-Sufficiency Standard in 2007. • 60% of such women had income below the national median. • 2007 BLS average annual construction salaries: • Laborers -- $30,950 • HVAC - Refrigeration, Mechanics and Installers -- $40,630 • Insulation workers -- $41,480 • Plumbers, Pipefitters, Steamfitters -- $48, 442 • Electricians -- $48,100

  6. Union vs. Non-union Wages • Typical construction trades union member -- $993/ week, $51,636/year • Non-union -- $624/week, $32,448/year • Government certified apprenticeships in the trades are road to higher paying, long-term careers in construction, BUT • Only 11.5 % of construction jobs are union jobs. (Source: Economic Policy Institute)

  7. How Many Stimulus Jobs Will Be Green? • Jobs created by Recovery Act Spending • EPI estimates $200 billion in construction spending over 2 years will create 770,000 jobs in: • Transportation infrastructure • School retrofit • Electric power grid • Home Weatherization Assistance Program • GSA federal building retrofit • Public and affordable housing

  8. How Many Green Jobs for Women? • Not many, if current workforce composition is any guide • Women in construction overall (non-office) -- 2.6% • Construction laborers – 2.7% • HVAC, Refrigeration – 0.9% • Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters – 1.5% • Electricians – 1.7% • Insulation workers – 1.9% • Sheet metal workers – 3.7% • Manufacturing: Machinists – 5.2%

  9. Training funds in Recovery and Reinvestment Act • $1.2 billion - dislocated worker services • $750 million - competitive grants in high-growth sectors, including green and broadband expansion • $500 million - WIA adult program • All the above include: • Targeting to low-income populations • Supportive services • Needs-based cash payments • $1 billion Weatherization Assistance Program training • $20 million DOT on-the-job training and supportive services

  10. Adult Education in ARRA • WIA funds may be used to contract with community colleges. • Funds in the State Fiscal Assistance Fund for education may be directed to programs funded under the Perkins Career and Technical Assistance program. • Maximum Pell grants are increased by $500 to a maximum of $4,860. • New American Opportunity Tax Credit replaces and expands the Hope Scholarship to $2,500 and makes it refundable below $90,000 income ($180,000 joint returns).

  11. How to Ensure Women Get Green Jobs • Comprehensive approach, including • Hiring goals or preferences • Enforcement of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity laws • Pre-apprenticeship programs that include: • Local labor market analysis • Specialized outreach • Orientation to construction field • Support services and stipends, including child care and transportation to job sites • Programs addressing sexual harassment • Apprenticeship placements involving unions and employers

  12. At the Federal Level • Improve WANTO (Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations) enacted in 1992 • Shown to increase women’s employment in higher-paying occupations by 47% (Mastracci) • Pre-apprenticeship training and support services, including outreach and coordination with labor-management councils • Authorized at $1 million – often funded at less. • Administered by Women’s Bureau • 20 programs have closed due to lack of funding.

  13. DOL’s Green Jobs Training Act • Green Jobs Training Act of 2007 • Pathways Out of Poverty competitive demonstration grants • Targets individuals with income less than 200% of the Self-Sufficiency Standard • Should consider women’s needs in program implementation. • DOL should include WANTO-type pre-apprenticeship programs as nonprofit partners to receive grants. • Data collection requires gender, race, age and parenting status, job placement and average wage at placement, including benefits.

  14. DOT - Federal Highway Administration • Office of Civil Rights’ On-the-Job-Training and Supportive Services http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/aaa/gtup.htm • Competitive grants to state highway departments. • Purpose: increase employment of “minorities, women and disadvantaged individuals” in transportation jobs. • Includes recruitment, skills training, job placement, child care, outreach, transportation to work sites, pre-employment assessment, mediation and counseling. • “Pipeline” programs may include transportation-related internships, cooperative education, post-secondary support activities.

  15. Federal Nondiscrimination Enforcement • DOL should strengthen equal opportunity monitoring by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in DOL. • Staffing has been cut by approximately 25% since 2001. • Restore the Equal Opportunity Survey requiring contractors to submit information on average compensation of employees by gender and race. • Update hiring goals for women (6.9%) and minorities that remain based on 1970 Census data. • Expand use of the 2000 MOU between OFCCP and the GSA to jointly promote contractor hiring goals on selected mega-projects valued over $50 million.

  16. At the State and Local Level • Legislation/regulations should give preference to contractors who – • Maximize the hiring of disadvantaged groups, including “individuals for whom construction is nontraditional employment,” and • Provide health and retirement benefits. • Require agencies to coordinate hiring with local community organizations, hiring centers, faith-based, labor and nonprofit organizations. • Require hiring data on Recovery Web sites, including to the extent possible gender, race, ethnicity, age and previous income.

  17. State and Local Level (cont’d) • Enact “project labor agreements” that include hiring goals. • These are negotiated voluntary agreements involving, labor, owners and contractor organizations for large projects. • Include women’s and community voices at the table. • Monitor payroll data. • Establish state pre-apprenticeship recruitment, training and placement programs. • E.g. NYC procurement policies require apprentices on publicly funded projects for the schools, Port and Housing Authorities. • The city’s Labor-sponsored pre-apprenticeship program guarantees placement in these certified apprenticeships.

  18. Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) Camille Cormier Wider Opportunities for Women April 1, 2009 ccormier@wowonline.org

  19. WAWIT Partners and Major Roles • Wider Opportunities for Women: case management, non-union job and apprenticeship placement, systems advocacy; • YWCA of the National Capital Area: main training site, curriculum/overall program development and implementation; • Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO: hands-on and 120-hour Core Construction training, union job and apprenticeship placement, systems advocacy.

  20. WAWIT is: • 6 weeks of pre-apprenticeship training with up to 18 months of case management /job placement support for graduates. • Training that prepares low-income DC area women for construction and utility careers paying self-sufficient wages .

  21. WAWIT Program Components Industry-Recognized Certificates: • Core Construction - training/certification using AFL-CIO’s curriculum – topics: Construction Math, Blueprint Reading, Industry Orientation/Awareness, Labor History/Contemporary Issues, Tools/Materials • First Aid – CPR • OSHA 10 Safety Hands-on Skills Training: 40 hours at a DC area Union Apprenticeship Training Center

  22. WAWIT Program Components (cont) • Fitness – 3 to 5 hours of weight training per week, emphasis on upper body strengthening • Gender Issues in Construction • Green Jobs Overview • Job Readiness • Basic Computer Skills/Research -a-Trade • Counseling/Case Management (up to 18 months) • Individual Job Placement (up to 18 months) • Technical Reading Comprehension • Supporting Our Sisters: Monthly support groups

  23. WANTO Program(a project of WAWIT) Women into Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Project Goals: • Prepare 200 women over a 2-year period to enter high paying construction Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) in the Washington DC area; • Update and dissemination of Workplace Solutions website (www.workplacesolutions.org), an online resource for employers and unions on women in nontraditional occupations; • Institutionalization of 3 to 5 new policies/programs in appropriate RAPs—especially in the area of recruitment and retention of women.

  24. WAWIT Program Outcomes • Seven (7) class cycles completed since March 2007 • 193 women enrolled • 118 women graduated (17 of these on 3/26) • 61% graduation rate • 52 graduates placed in jobs and apprenticeships • 44% placement of graduates • Vigorous placement efforts continue

  25. WAWIT Challenges • Economic Downturn – Many skilled workers “on the bench;” • Not a Union Town – 20% of area contractors are union; • No major ports or industrial/manufacturing base; • Relatively small population base (582,000 in DC; 5.3 million in DC area) from which to draw interested women; • Suburban Maryland and Virginia student recruitment and retention is problematic (“bridge and tunnel” syndrome); • Lack of funding for training and work supports; • Broken and opaque public workforce development systems; • High entrance requirements for urban women: High school diploma/GED, strong math skills, drivers’ license.

  26. WAWIT /WOW Opportunities • ARRA construction/Green Jobs funding promises huge increase in training and jobs for DC area; • Exploring weatherization careers and other Green Jobs with WOW as a potential hub; • DC Green Building Act of 2006 requires environmental retrofits, Green standards for new construction; • US Green Jobs Act of 2007 retrofit requirements apply to the high number of Federal buildings in DC area.

More Related