By Sarah Chaney WSJ Eric Morath WSJ Mon., April 29, 2019 Kenyette Godhigh-Bell dismissed any thought of becoming a truck driver years ago when it appeared too daunting to break into a job where more than 90% of workers are men. “You’ve got this cowboy-boot wearing, cigarette-smoking, tattooed or whatever white guy’s job,” she recalled. Now Ms. Godhigh-Bell, a 46-year-old black woman in sleek high-heeled boots, regularly pulls her 18-wheeler to Nebraska slaughterhouses so she can pick up beef and chicken for transport to grocery warehouses. She is among a growing number of women taking jobs in blue-collar roles that have long been—and still are—mostly men, including police officers, construction laborers and electricians. A number of factors are driving the trend, including firms broadening recruiting efforts in a tight labor market to women being drawn by better-paying jobs to recognizing they won’t be alone. The increase has been especially pronounced in transportation and material-moving, a field that includes truck drivers, delivery people and warehouse workers. In 2018, 43% more women worked in that category than in 2000, according to the Labor Department, and those gains accelerated the past five years as the labor market tightened. The overall number of women in the workforce increased about 15% during that time. The number of women working as security guards, police officers and other protective service jobs also rose more than 40% since 2000. Women working construction jobs has increased 23%. Article Continued Below Now nearly 9% of truck drivers are women, the… [Read full story]
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