Roughly one-third of all construction workers who worked on the Department of Homeland Security’s new site in Ward 8 over the past year were D.C. residents, a new report shows. Just one-third, you say? Well apparently that’s pretty good, according to D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The increases in D.C. residents employed have been steady as the project has progressed, according to a Norton news release.
“On the ground right now at the DHS site, 322 of the 854 construction workers — or more than 36 percent — are D.C. residents. To date, D.C. residents are 26 percent of the workers onsite,” she said.
Norton went on to say the “figures are far better than is generally found for D.C. residents employed on construction sites in the District” but she “will continue working for more jobs for D.C. residents.” She also noted that 20 percent of the District residents employed on the project live in Ward 8.
Ward 8 has the highest unemployment rate in the city with nearly 1 in every 4 residents unemployed. Norton has criticized construction employers in particular for overlooking hiring District residents for D.C. projects.
