The number of women working in construction trades increased 17.6 percent between 2017 and 2018, rising to more than a quarter of a million women (276,000), according to new analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. This is five-fold better than the 3.7 percent job growth in construction occupations overall.

While last year marked the highest share of women working in construction in 20 years, they remained strongly underrepresented in the trades. In 2018, only 3.4 percent of construction trades workers were women. Even when administrative and office staff working in construction are included, women only represented 9.9 percent of those employed in the sector.

In 2018, women working full time in construction and extraction occupations made a median of $785 per week, compared to $834 for men (i.e., 94 cents for every dollar earned).