Hispanic Employment and Demographics
Hispanics accounted for over a third of the construction workforce in 2022, an increase from 24.3% in 2011. These workers face higher risks for occupational injury, such as higher rates of fatal falls. As a result, it is imperative to use timely data about Hispanic employment in construction to monitor this growing component of the U.S. construction workforce.
This interactive story-dashboard characterizes employment trends among Hispanic workers by using 1-year American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, including employment and demographic trends. In 2020 the Census revised its definition of “Hispanic” to provide a more representative estimate of Hispanic populations in the U.S. The Time period filter on both sheets allows users to view most recent data as well as historical data to account for this definition change. The Time Period and Year filter updates both the charts and bolded and underlined key findings. Click on the boxes at the top of the dashboard to switch between the two sheets, including Employment and Demographics.
Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data source, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to a chapter in the upcoming PDF version of the Construction Chart Book-7th edition, which will be published this summer. Data will be updated annually as available. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected].
About the Data
Data come from the U.S. Census Bureau 1-year American Community Survey (ACS) downloaded through IPUMS.
Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Matthew Sobek, Daniel Backman, Annie Chen, Grace Cooper, Stephanie Richards, Renae Rodgers, and Megan Schouweiler. IPUMS USA: Version 15.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2024. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V15.0.
- In 2020 the questions used for determining Hispanic origin were changed, impacting comparability between pre- and post-2020 data. For more information: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/user-notes/2021-08.html.
- ACS data additionally is not comparable to other estimates shown in products using Current Population Survey (CPS) data. ACS data is used due to a higher level of detailed demographic information compared to CPS.
Definitions
- Construction worker – a respondent who reported that they worked within the construction industry (NAICS 23) and that they were currently employed at time of survey.
- Ethnicity – separate from race, ethnicity is defined based on a respondent’s self-reported Hispanic origin.
- Detailed ethnicity – the subcategory of ethnicity that refers to a specific country or Spanish culture of origin.
- Hispanic – a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, including people who reported detailed Hispanic or Latino groups, regardless of race.
- Occupation – respondent’s primary occupation coded according to the Census classification scheme. Certain categories were combined by the CPWR Data Center for analysis. Specific occupation codes can be requested by emailing [email protected].