Doing weld: How Twin Cities community and technical colleges are trying to get more women into the trades
Ibrahim Hirsi /
Minnesota Post
Even though women make up nearly half of the labor market today, they’re overwhelmingly underrepresented in technical and trade industries across the United States. In fact, women make up just 30 percent of manufacturing employees, 9 percent of construction workers and only 6 percent of welders and equipment maintenance service workers — all industries that boast plenty of employment opportunities, decent wages and competitive benefits. What’s more, many of the jobs in the trade industries don’t have the sort of pay disparity that women experience in other sectors of the economy.