Minnesota Has 20th Youngest Construction Workers

Fewer and fewer are entering the construction industry, and Minnesota ranks as the 20th state in terms of the youth of their construction workers.

"As fewer young people enter the industry, the share of older construction workers has increased. Compared to 2009, there were 330,000 fewer construction workers aged 20 to 29 in 2019, while there were 312,000 more workers aged 60 or older. While there isn’t one obvious reason for these changes, industry experts point to the decline in high school vocational programs and that construction firms hired fewer young people during the Great Recession—changes that have prevented young workers from gaining experience in the industry."

According to the site Construction Coverage, the analysis found that Minnesota's average age of construction worker is 40 years old, and in total, only 22.8% of construction workers in the state were under the age of 30. Here are the latest stats from Minnesota.

Median age of construction workers: 40
Share of construction workers under 30: 22.8%
Share of construction workers over 50: 28.6%
Total construction workers in the labor force: 132,515

Here are averages from the entire country:

Median age of construction workers: 41
Share of construction workers under 30: 22.5%
Share of construction workers over 50: 27.6%
Total construction workers in the labor force: 8,391,622

"To find the states with the youngest and oldest construction workers in the U.S., researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The researchers ranked states according to the median age of construction workers. Researchers also calculated the share of construction workers under 30, the share of construction workers over 50, and the total number of construction workers in the labor force."