Sun, K (2020) Three essays on the construction labor market: Getting to work; safety at work; regulation work. PhD thesis, University of Utah, USA.
Abstract
The topics of this dissertation are closely related to the characteristics of the construction industry. The first essay about getting to work is relative to its seasonal and local characteristics. The second essay about safety at work is relative to its unusually dangerous characteristic. The third essay about regulation work is relative to its cyclical characteristic. In contrast to other goods-producing industries and most other service sector jobs, construction workers must continually move from project to project and contractor to contractor. Thus, construction workers cannot locate their family home based on where the work is or where the contractor is. Essay 1 explores the dilemmas and choices of construction workers who travel to work based on individual contractor and worker data from public projects built in San Jose, California, from 2008 to 2016. The econometric model result shows that the volatility of construction work shapes the strategies of construction workers’ choice of residence. The volatility of construction is in part the volatility of safety at work. Subcontracting, contingent workers, and alternative employment arrangements are used extensively in the construction industry. Essay 2 explores the role of leased workers in relation to construction workplace safety via econometric models. The model results show that leasing agencies are one adaptation to that dimension of volatility. Essay 3 examines whether a key construction labor market regulation, the Davis-Bacon Act, was designed to privilege Whites over Blacks in the allocation of construction employment. To answer this question, this essay infers the intent of the Davis-Bacon Act via historical and econometric analyses. The weight of these inferences suggests that the Davis-Bacon Act is not primarily motivated by racial animus. The econometric model results show that the presence or absence of a state prevailing wage law in 1930 does not either encourage or deter importing or exporting construction services. The clustering model results show that adjusting the wage level is not a means to exclude Black employment. This means the intent of the Davis-Bacon Act, marked by increasing wage levels, is not to discriminate against Black employment.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Philips, P W |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction labor; econometric; employment; market; regulation; safety; subcontracting |
| Index terms: | workplace safety, leasing, strategy, regulation, public project, agency, adaptation, subcontracting, employment, presence, construction work, construction labour, privilege, construction industry, dissertation, econometric, clustering, dimension, construction worker |
| Subjects: | data science, health monitoring assessment and metrics, sociology, industry analysis, political science, management, operations management, environmental science, economic analysis, research dissemination and communication, organization, user focus, practitioner, occupational health, land economics, infrastructure engineering |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Urban Studies, Design Practice, Human Resources, Site Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Governance, Supply Chain Management, Ethics, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here