The construction sector across Europe and the Western Balkans is undergoing profound structural pressure. While it is expected to deliver on housing demand, large-scale infrastructure, and the green transition, it continues to struggle with chronic labour shortages and deep-rooted gender imbalances. Against this backdrop, the Needs Assessment Report developed within the Women Empowered in Construction (WEC) project provides a comprehensive, evidence-based foundation for future project actions.
Prepared as the final output of Work Package 2 – Research and Mapping, the report consolidates findings from institutional data analysis, policy mapping, and stakeholder consultations previously conducted under Deliverables D2.1 and D2.2. Its primary purpose is to synthesise this evidence into a strategic framework that directly informs the development of the WEC vocational education and training (VET) curriculum and other downstream project activities.
The analysis covers seven countries: Ireland, Germany, Croatia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania. These countries represent a mix of EU Member States and Western Balkan contexts, enabling cross-country comparison while identifying shared structural patterns.
The report draws on:
This multi-layered approach allows the report to identify both transnational trends and country-specific challenges relevant to gender inclusion and workforce resilience in construction
Structural Labour Shortages in Construction
All participating countries report a significant and widening gap between labour supply and demand in construction. Shortages are particularly acute in skilled trades such as electricians, masons, and steel fixers, as well as in supervisory roles and emerging green and digital occupations. The report highlights that labour shortages are no longer cyclical but structural, intensified by the retirement of experienced workers and insufficient entry of new labour into the sector.
Demographic change, migration patterns, and declining interest in vocational education further exacerbate these shortages, creating long-term risks for sector sustainability.
Persistent Gender Imbalances
Women remain severely underrepresented in the construction workforce across all partner countries. Female participation consistently clusters between 8.6% and 14%, and is even lower in site-based and manual trades. Where women are present, they are predominantly employed in administrative, design, or managerial roles rather than technical or operational positions.
The report identifies a persistent pattern of horizontal gender segregation, reinforced by cultural stereotypes, workplace exclusion mechanisms, economic disincentives such as gender pay gaps, and weak educational pipelines. Female enrolment in construction-related vocational programmes remains below 20% in most countries, with some reporting figures as low as 5%
Weak Education-to-Employment Transitions
Even in countries where female participation in construction education is improving, this progress does not translate into employment outcomes. The report identifies several contributing factors, including:
As a result, the report concludes that upskilling women without parallel labour market transformation leads to significant “pipeline leaks”
Inadequate Gender Mainstreaming in VET Systems
Gender considerations are largely absent from curriculum design, accreditation criteria, teaching methodologies, and school–employer partnerships across the countries studied. Most VET providers lack the institutional capacity, resources, or mandate to implement gender inclusion strategies specific to construction. Instead, general equality policies are applied, which do not address the sector’s unique workplace realities
Gaps in Current Construction Curricula
The structured mapping of existing VET programmes revealed several common gaps:
These gaps limit the capacity of current programmes to respond to labour market needs and to support diverse learner profiles.
Based on the consolidated findings, the report identifies five high-priority needs that must be addressed in future WEC activities:
The Needs Assessment Report confirms that the WEC curriculum must be designed as a transformative tool, embedding gender equality from the outset while integrating green and digital competencies across all modules. The curriculum is expected to address documented barriers such as cultural stereotypes, inadequate workplace facilities, and economic disincentives, while responding directly to labour market needs identified through stakeholder consultations
The report concludes that construction workforce challenges transcend national boundaries. Female participation remains consistently low across all countries studied, while labour shortages continue to intensify. In this context, the WEC project is positioned to contribute to both workforce development and systemic transformation by investing in women, modernising VET, and addressing long-standing structural exclusion.
By anchoring its future activities in the evidence presented in this Needs Assessment Report, the WEC project ensures that its outputs are technically robust, socially meaningful, economically relevant, and aligned with policy priorities at both national and European levels
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
