Data Collection
The scores are determined based on data collected from the agency overseeing each project, either through data sharing agreements or requests through the Freedom of Information Act.
Race and gender are tabulated based on values reported to the supervising agency.
Contract payments and wages reported made to contractors or workers with missing demographic data are included in total contract dollar calculations but do not contribute to scoreboard scores.
Indicators & Index Scores
The Construction Equity Scoreboard focuses on the core values of racial and gender equity, and as such has determined the following indicators:
Methods
These twelve indicators are defined by four dimensions (rows) and three factors (columns). The dimensions are further grouped in two categories (Contracts and Workforce).
The Dimension Index score is the average of the scores of each indicator within the dimension.
The Equity Index score is the sum of index scores for all dimensions in that category.
Contract Equity Index score = Dimension Index score for Contract Dollars
Workforce Equity Index score = Dimension Index score for Workforce Dollars + Dimension Index score for Workforce Job Level + Dimension Index score for Workforce Trades.
The Intersection of Race & Gender is included as a separate factor in acknowledgement that within groups of people with a common identity, whether it be gender, sexuality, religion, race, or one of the many other defining aspects of identity, there exist intra-group differences. By evaluating this factor and assigning weight to it, we reduce the likelihood that one group within that identity can dominate the others (e.g., white women often benefit disproportionately from equity-related initiatives intended to benefit all women), and we acknowledge the impact of overlapping oppressions.
Calculations & Definitions
The indicators for Contract Dollars, Workforce Dollars, and Workforce Job Level are straightforward ratios, and do not require special calculations.
However, calculating a score for the three Workforce Trades indicators is more complicated for two reasons. First, each project has a different number and collection of trades (e.g., carpenters, plumbers, electricians). An average of the ratios of dimensions for all trades is not an appropriate calculation because it would obfuscate large variations in the dimension values for individual trades (e.g. if 100% of the workforce wages for engineers were earned by men and 100% of the workforce wages for laborers were earned by women, the average of these two values would not reveal the inequity present in the wage distribution by gender.). For this reason we incorporate the coefficient of variance in to the calculation of the Workforce Trade Index scores (as shown below). The coefficient of variance (standard deviation/mean) reflects the amount of variability between trades for that project, and when incorporated in to the calculation, can be used to reduce the index value for projects that might have a high average portion of wages earned by BIPoC and female/non-binary workers, but low equity in individual trades. This approach is modeled after the approach utilized for the Inclusiveness Index at the Othering & Belonging Institute.
In addition, some trades will represent a much larger proportion of the workforce wages on each project, and the relative contributions of each trade will vary between projects. For this reason we calculate the Workforce Trade Index score by weighting the contribution of each trade relative to the others on each project (as shown below).
Workforce Trade score = average of portion of wages paid to workers in each category adjusted for portion of project wages paid in each trade and coefficient of variance:
Net dollars = difference between total paid to contractor and amount that contractor has paid to subcontractors for this project
Wages paid = gross wages (hourly or salary). This does not include non-wage benefits, or withholdings of any kind. Note: if base wages are not collected, this is calculated by multiplying hours worked by BOLI standard wage for the job category
For example, the trade score, for a particular trade (Trade), for the BIPoC indicator, would be: