The Number of Latino Construction Business Owners Rises in Every Age Group
The only growth segment in the construction industry? Latino-owned businesses.
The number of business owners in the construction industry (firms involved in the construction of buildings, heavy/civil engineering construction, or specialty trade contractors) declined 8% from 2.3 million in 2007 to 2.1 million in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners (collected in years ending in ‘2’ and ‘7’). An earlier post reported that the number of business owners of residential construction firms (a sub-sector of the larger group above) declined 12% during this period (down to 689,000 firms). This post analyzes how the change in the number of business owners in the entire construction industry varied by the age and race/ethnicity of the business owner. {One exception were Latino construction business, which saw an increase in numbers].
The contraction in the construction industry was more pronounced among younger business owners. In 2012, there were 23% fewer construction business owners under the age of 25 than in 2007, 19% fewer aged 25 to 34, 22% fewer aged 35 to 44, and 13% fewer aged 45 to 54. In contrast, there were 14% more construction business owners aged 55 to 64 in 2012 than in 2007 and 21% more aged 65 or older.
