As the Texas economy booms, so does the construction industry.\u00a0 But recently, that’s coming at a high cost to workers.\u00a0 Recently, the University of Texas and the Worker’s Defense Project released a study showing the costs — primarily in on-the-job injuries and wage theft — to workers.<\/p>\n
An NPR story<\/a> describing the report notes in part:<\/p>\n \u201cLike almost everything in the Texas, the construction industry in the Lone Star State is big. One in every 13 workers here is employed in the state’s $54 billion-per-year construction industry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c…Years of illegal immigration have pushed wages down, and accidents and wage fraud are common. Of the nearly 1 million workers laboring in construction here, approximately half are undocumented.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026working Texas construction is a good way to die while not making a good living. More construction workers die in Texas than in any other state, the WDP-UT study finds. Within 2010, construction workers in the lightly regulated Lone (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the Texas economy booms, so does the construction industry.\u00a0 But recently, that’s coming at a high cost to workers.\u00a0 Recently, the University of Texas and the Worker’s Defense Project released a study showing the costs — primarily in on-the-job…<\/span><\/p>\n\n