Posted on February 14, 2023

Buttigieg Tells Crowd White Construction Workers Are Taking Jobs From Communities of Color

Nikolas Lanum, Fox News, February 13, 2023

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg focused on racial disparities in construction during a Monday conference, claiming that construction sites are not employing local workers in minority communities and outsourcing to White people.

During the National Association of Counties Conference, Buttigieg urged those in attendance to work with their contractors and community colleges to build a workforce that reflects the community.

“We have heard way too many stories from generations past of infrastructure where you got a neighborhood, often a neighborhood of color, that finally sees the project come to them, but everyone in the hard hats on that project, doing the good paying jobs, don’t look like they came from anywhere near the neighborhood,” Buttigieg said.

He added that Americans could help shrink wealth gaps in the country by “tearing down those barriers” on the delivery level.

Buttigieg previously raised eyebrows in April after he said “there is racism physically built into highways.”

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